Could Not Have Been A Better Day

It just kept getting better and better. I think it’s my favorite of the winter so far.

I had a three hour conversation with my best friend, Linda, today. Can you still call someone your best friend if we haven’t seen each other since we turned thirty? Or have only spoken twice since the ‘80s?

I think you can. She attended a Catholic school through 8th grade. We met the first day of 9th when she transferred to public school. She tells the story of how our friendship began like this: We were both in last period study hall. She said I leaned over to her and said, “You’ve been in all my classes today. Do you want to be friends?”

Today she laughed at how Rob O’Reilly told our history teacher that the empty chair was mine. That I cut class almost every day and went to the band room. Even then I knew that music would be more important in my life than American History. Plus, it’s something you can pick up later in life, which I did. Not too much trouble because he only cared about the jocks and cheerleaders. I was a music nerd. Some (just mom) said prodigy.

We kept in touch during college. After college, we got an apartment together. She had a really good job as an accountant while I was struggling to rub two nickels together. I could always cover my half of the rent but she never complained about paying for 80% of the food. She knew I was trying really hard. As a result, she got the larger bedroom. :-)

A best friend can find the funny in misery. I had a hysterectomy when I was 28, and not long afterwards refused HRT. We were with mom one day and I was having a hot flash. She remembered mom’s remark of “I never thought I would say this, but it’s fun having hot flashes at the same time as my daughter.” (or something to that effect). We couldn’t have been two better peas in a pod. She was the sister I never had and in sister rankings, I was her 4th. I won’t even get into the time we played racketball doubles and her backhand busted my nose. Or playing in a beer slow pitch softball league.

Our favorite thing to do each year was to trudge through the snow and buy the biggest, most beautiful Christmas tree we could find. We didn’t have any decorations so we improvised each year. We strung cranberries and popcorn, which takes forever. We used the price tags from the trees. And we hung peanuts in the shell with red thread. We turned that into a fun tradition. When we’d have a visitor and they noticed the peanuts, they got to sign one.

We talked about the past, the present and the future. I’m thrilled that her career worked out so well for her and though we took different paths I’m happy with the path I chose, too. We have different challenges but we’re each doing our best.
Despite ending up in very different places and life circumstances, if I can talk to her for over three hours, effortlessly, she’ll always be my best friend.

Guess I’ve gone on long enough. I told her we should talk more often so we can cut each conversation to 2 hours. :-)

Does the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day have a name?