I'm quite excited about the fact that we have Spring Break next week and as such, I'll have a chance to have lunch with my best-girlfriend from HS, Red Head. Red Head has been my pal since 5th grade music. We did some kind of performance together, it sucked, and we became buddies. It is the kind of friendship formed between two smart, nerdy, non-rich girls in a sea of perfect, non-nerdy rich kids.
The only thing I miss about high school is getting to see her every day. We also worked together during high school and afterwards when I was in my first undergrad school, here in BN state. She's smart, funny and has a strong sense of right and wrong -- sometimes she isn't right about that (her views on homosexuality make Santorum look liberal) but, she's generally in tune with what is good and right.
I think it is funny that I've known Red Head longer than ANY of my debaters have been alive. She knew me when I was a geek with bad hair (not so sure THAT has changed) and I knew her when she had terrible teeth she couldn't get fixed due to her parent's modest income and 7 kids... she got braces as an adult.
Red Head and I have gone very different direction. She didn't go to college --- she has that natural managerial and leadership ability that they can't teach in MBA classes. She married later than I, but has a child with him. She's never lived more than 20 miles from where she grew up.... while I have 2.5 degrees, no kids and have lived many places away from BN state.
Even after being apart for 12 years, she was the first person I called when Pam died. When I was in another state, she called me when her youngest sister Emily died. She understood what it felt like to loose a little sister -- and as I became aware of how much that can and does hurt, she was the one I wanted to talk to. I remember the pain in her voice, and when my voice sounded like that - she was the only one I wanted to hear it.
She's the person I'd take shopping for an important dress (like philosophers need them.. but still, I can dream) and she's the only person in the state I can go apartment shopping with -- I can't even do that with Hubby, who tells me to "pick out the one I want, just make sure it doesn't have bugs and has high-speed internet access". As I sit here in the living room, I think about when we came to look at this place -- she and I planned out where stuff could go -- answered the internet and bug questions and I decided to rent it.
Next week won't be dramatic or overly-happy, it will just be a couple of good friends having lunch and chatting about life. I'm looking forward to it.
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My best friend and have been best friends since the 7th grade. We are 38 years old now. We live in different states and have very different lives. But when we get together, it’s like we are 17 again. She is the one person, except for my husband who knows me better than I do. It’s great to have someone like that in your life!
She's someone I value more after my sister's death. She's a peer who knew me before I was a teenager -- before my dad died and before I figured out that the world can be a hard place.
Our schedules don't coincide often, but I try to have lunch with her when I have a day off of classes, as she lives on the other side of the city, but works about 20 minutes from my house... besides, when she's on lunch, she doesn't have duties to her daughter and husband.
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