And she's gone. . . .

Imagine "Friends" by Michael W Smith playing in the background while you read this post. If you were a good church kid in the 80's, it will evoke exactly the right feel.

If we are lucky, we get some great friends to fill our lives and finish our sentences. In the beginning you get the kids of your parents' friends. Once you enter the wonderful world of school, you get to make your own friends. If you are lucky, these girls carry all the way thru to adulthood and beyond. I have 3 girls in my life that kinda represent each phase. Christine and I have been friends since third grade when she made me watch every episode of "Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters." We don't see each other much but the history is there. Kathy was my roomie in college. She knows what I am going to say before I say it. She lives in Texas~way to far away! I miss her and want her to transfer to a base closer to me. Soon.

My adult-life BFF is Kary and she has left me. Minne-freakin'-sota. She's gone. We were a perfect match from the start. We were both brand new moms and I needed someone to boss around and she needed someone to boss her around. Worked out great. As we both grew up, we found a balance. I am hyper-scheduled. Kary does not own a calendar. She does however own 30 drums and random handmade musical instruments. She thinks the greatest song ever is Suzanne Vega's atrocity called "Tom's Diner" I think anything by Def Leppard or Warrant is worthy of music worship. She loves lentils. I would know a lentil if it hit me upside the head. Her perfect man sports dreadlocks and makes him own pants. My perfect man drives a BMW and is featured in "Forbes" for selling thousands of pairs of khaki pants. We really have very little in common which is why we are perfect for each other. She has the most important quality in a BFF. She likes me as I am. She doesn't preach at me. Or try to fix me. Or tell me that I'm not entitled to my feelings. Miranda the Waitress at Don Pablos will probably call me in a few weeks and ask where we have been. Kary and I used to go out for food and bonding at least twice per month. We were mistaken for a lesbian couple at Chili's once. How am I going to live without her? Woe is me. . . . I think Kim and Jana will need to give some lessons.