best friends

I'm blessed. I feel like one of the fortunate souls running around this world that knows there are more people than I can count on my fingers and toes that truly love me. Family, friends, even co-workers. I don't think there are many people that can say that with confidence. I know it's none of my own doing...it's a blessing of God. Each of these loves is so very different...even one family member's love is different from another. And friends are the same.

Most of us probably have close friends that are in our current, immediate and daily life. Most of us also have life-long, or historical friends, that may not live nearby, but will never be far from our hearts. Somewhere, among one of those kinds of friends, is your best friend. I'm jealous of those of you whose best friend is still a pat of your immediate and daily life...in the same city, knowing the rest of your current circle.

I was never really big on that "best friend" label...or the whole BFF thing. But somewhere along the way I realized that I was going to be friends with my best friend for life, really. Nobody will ever be able to replace or match the history we have together...years of inside jokes, tears shed, and laughing so hard you can't breathe anymore. A few come close, and you bring them into the fold of life-long friends...but I think there's only ever one best friend.

My best friend lives something like 6 time zones away from me. Short of seeing each other almost daily, I'll always maintain that we don't get enough time together...but for being on two different continents, we do a pretty good job. It was one of those friendships that you just know was ordained before the dawn of time (well, let's not get into the theology of that)...it was at least one of the reasons I ended up at the University of Houston (instead of Austin or College Station), part of the reason I mustered the courage to spend 6 months studying in France with a bunch of people I never met (including the Americans), and so many other things. We've known each other long enough to know each other's habits, patterns of thought, and points of utter stupidity when it comes to certain points of our logic...and yet we sharpen each other every time we talk or get to spend time together. When she has moments of chaos, I'm the rock...and vice versa. She tells me when I'm a b*tch (and frankly, few others have been willing to do the same), and vice versa.

She's the first person I want to call when I've got fabulous news or when I think I might be about to lose my mind with worry or frustration or any number of life's quandaries. She doesn't get a lot of press in this forum, not that many do by name...but neither does my spine...and it's a hugely important part of my life. Without it, I'd be a limp noodle. Without Steff, I'd be the same.

I hope that you have a best friend too. They're, well...the best.