Let me tell you about...

my "bestie!"

Connie and I met at a neighborhood cocktail party about 30 years ago. She and her family had just moved in. When I found out that she had two daughters, near my girls age, we hit it off right away. We had already lived there a couple years, but all the kids in the "hood" were little. I was so excited for my girls. We got them together the very next day. Sandy and Amanda became best friends right off the bat---as did Stephanie and Malinda. Thus began our many adventures together.

When the girls were little, we spent so much time together. We'd walk to each other's house on those rare snow days, play games and order pizza. Even though she's not a morning person, she met me every morning before work at 5:15 a.m. so we could get our walk in. We'd even walk in the afternoons if our schedules permitted.

There was this one time during our afternoon walk, that we stopped in at my house to get some water.  My house phone was ringing---yes back in the good 'ole days. Turns out, someone was calling me from Malinda's phone. Her car had been broken in to the night before and everything was stolen. This someone had found her phone. Without any forethought---or letting anyone know where we were going, we jumped in to the car and headed to a seedy part of town to retrieve it. We didn't have a cell phone ourselves yet. On the way, we discussed that perhaps we had reacted too quickly. It turned out just fine.

Connie has always been willing to go along with any of my crazy schemes. We camped out for New Kids on the Block tickets with Stephanie and Malinda. We ordered pizza to be delivered to us on the street. The news came to do a story. Connie was being interviewed. Now mind you, it was cold. We had our coats on and our hoods tied---tight---like a couple of eskimos. She was so nervous that when the reporter asked her if she was a NKOTB fan, she quickly said, "No, but my friend here, watches them every afternoon!" The reporter immediately turned the mike to me. Now there were a couple things wrong with this picture. 1. The NKOTB weren't even on tv yet. 2. I looked like an idiot on tv with my hoodie all tied up (I was particularly embarrassed for my husband who had a pretty big job). As soon as the cameras stopped rolling, she turned to me and said, "Barb, I am SO SORRY! I have no idea what made me say that." Uhhh, yeah, I do. She deflected the attention!

Most recently, I have convinced her to try duplicate bridge with me. She's been resisting for a very long time. She has such good card sense, I knew she'd love it. I came to her with a proposition. "Just give it a try and if you don't like it, I'll never mention it again." We started off a little rocky, but then yesterday, we killed it! Not only did we come in first, but we had a 63% day. I don't really know what the percentage means, but I do know that 63% is REALLY good! She said she still was a bit nervous, but really enjoyed it. I'm hoping that she decides she really likes it. But then, for me, she'd probably do it anyway. She's just like that.

Connie is one of those types of people that others gravitate to. She's funny and has a great way of telling a story---boy does she have a lot! She can take any little thing and turn it in to a hilarious story. If you ever get a chance to meet her, ask her about the blue cheese dressing! She has kept me and the rest of our friends entertained for years. We always look forward to what she has to say.

We share a love of reading. She reads more books than I do---it's not a competition. I will admit, it is hard to keep up as she's always throwing new, good books at me. It's almost like our own mini book club. We stitch together. I'm not really sure how that began---I think we just discovered at the beginning that we were both stitchers. We've done many projects together over the years.

Well, lest you think she's perfect---which she almost is---let me tell you about the clutzy side of her. Be careful if you invite her over. She can come in to your house and do a lot of damage. 1. She put a plastic salad bowl on top of the hot burner of my brand new cooktop the very first time she came to our new house. That was hell to remove! What a stringy, sticky and then baked on mess! 2. She caught something on one of my pillows and unraveled the fringe. 3. She dribbled hot, buttery, brown sugary sauce all over my needlepoint rug and through the house.  4. She backed in to a tray of glasses at the club, sending them crashing to the floor. Those are just a few examples I can come up with---without a lot of thought. There are so many more. It got so bad for awhile, I assigned other friends to keep an eye on her! It's a good thing she's so darned likable. Otherwise, she'd be too expensive to keep around!

We've confided in each other over the years about all the good and bad. Just what "besties" do. When she found out that Jack was going to be deployed during Desert Storm, she was so distraught that I immediately ran down to her house. I took one look at her and said, "Oh my gosh Connie, your nose is so red---it's going to burst in to blood!" Side note to that---she bought a huge needlepoint rug to keep herself busy while Jack was gone. Being the supportive friend that I am, I said, "You wasted your money. You are never going to finish that!" And she never did! Even if she had, the colors would have been out of style! Gosh, that makes me sound like the negative one in our relationship. Eeek, maybe I am. I never thought about it. Here I go again, making this about ME!

Another time, while Jack was away and Butch was out-of-town, she invited us to dinner. She said that she was making omelets. Then she called back to see if I had any eggs. She called back a second time and asked if I had any cheese. When I arrived, I asked what she'd planned to do for dinner if we hadn't come?!! The smallest things always turn in to something fun with Connie!

I can trust her and she trusts me. I'm so happy that she's in my life. I don't know what I ever did to deserve such a kind, patient, funny, loyal and loving friend as her. She's a way better person than I am. But I think that's another thing I love about her. When I leave her, I always feel good!

Happy birthday dear friend! Here's to many more years together!