Company's Coming!!!!

This is me (on the right) and my best friend in the entire world.

This picture was taken a LOOOOOOONNNNNGGGGG

time ago.  Can you say 26 years ago probably.  Maybe 25.

We had no wrinkles, no gray hairs, thick eyebrows and really

white teeth without using whitening strips. 

We also didn't have too many life stories to tell nor did we have

any idea what our futures held for us.  Both of us have been

through some super tough times.

What we did have then that we still have, is a love for each other

and a friendship that has survived everything that life has

thrown at us.  The really wonderful and the really awful.

I wish I had a picture of us from when we first became friends, because

even though this picture is old,  we met each other when we were 13,

that was 34 years ago.  A picture from then would be really old:)

So this was when we were 15.  We were in my backyard and my dad

was sweet enough to humor us by taking pictures.  We had made up

some silly skit and were acting it out.  We didn't have a movie camera

so still shots is all we could take.  There are several more to go with

this one, but you get the idea.  We were so odd, hahahaha.

So I guess I was a sailor who was about to be attacked by Dracula?  Who knows!!
I can't remember the story line now, but I promise you we thought it was funny and made
sense back in 1980.

Then we decided to just turn upside down on my fence and have dad take pictures of that.

We were so easily amused by ourselves, you have no idea.

Notice that even though it was clearly a weekend, I was wearing khaki pants.  My mom
never allowed me to wear jeans.  It was either dresses, skirts or khakis.

Once we got our driver's licenses, our fun changed.  We started going to

thrift stores and vintage clothing shops.  Here we are standing outside of

Luxor Vintage Clothing store on Carey Street in Richmond, "modeling"

vintage dresses.  In the 80's, it wasn't so popular to want to buy vintage clothes,

we were way ahead of our time, hahahaha.  We stopped random people

to take pictures of us:)

Great dresses and great shoes.  This was such a fun day.  I still have earrings I bought
on this day of vintage shopping.

The car also allowed us to go on fun day trips.  This day we headed off to

King's Dominion in Karin's little convertible Karmann Ghia.

We took a giant pitcher of Wink mixed with Gin along with us.

Probably not the smartest thing to admit to, but we were of legal drinking

age, and it was nice to go to the car in the parking lot and have a "cocktail".

Not so good to get on rides that turn you upside down afterwards though.

It was a great day.

My goodness I had the bushy eyebrows.  Another thing my mom wouldn't let me wear, skinny eyebrows, hahaha.

And then there were our big hair 80's nights when lord only knows what we were thinking.

I really don't think I would ever re-live the styles of the 80's, once was bad enough.

There are no words to describe the mess of hair we have going on here.

Well, Karin and I grew up.  We married, we divorced, we married again, we had children (one

daughter for her, four sons for me), we lost loved ones, we've had some of our dreams come true

and some of them never make it into reality. 

Me, Garrett (my first born and Karin's God-son) and Karin

Karin and I don't live in the same town anymore, and haven't for 23 years.  But our friendship has

never faded.  We are only a text, an email, a phone call or a two hour drive away from

each other.  She was right by my side when mom passed away 3 months ago and I will

never be able to pay her back for that.  It meant the world to me.

Tonight, Karin and her family are coming to eat dinner and spend the night with us.

I can't wait to see her.  She is an amazing artist and I can't wait to show her what I have been working

on with my art classes I have been taking. 

There are many things in this world that money can buy, but the most important things,

have no use for money.  No amount of money could buy me the gift of friendship

that Karin and I share. 

I hope that in their lifetime, my boys will find a friend that will stick with

them through all of life's ups and downs.  I feel so blessed to be able

to look back at pictures and see what Karin and I have been able to

share over the years and I look forward to what the rest of our lives

has for us to share.

A rare moment in my grown-up life:
a girl's night out.

The night before Robby and I got married.
Planning my own wedding sure made me look tired.
May 21st 2010

What about you?  Is there a friend who has always been there for you?

I would love to hear about it and sure would love to see

some embarrassing pictures just like I shared with you:)

Now, I have got to go get the house cleaned up before they get here.

Have a great weekend everybody.

XXOO