Happy B-Day!

The "B" stands for Bridget. Happy Birthday Bridget! I am really excited to celebrate your birthday and all, but don't you think it's a bit more important this year that we celebrate our 15th year of friendship? The 15th year anniversary gift is traditionally crystal - you know, just in case you were going to give me a present or something. *hint hint*

Kidding, of course.

Really though, I hope you had a wonderful day and I wish I had been there to celebrate with you. I cannot believe I am missing your 21st birthday after all the milestones we shared growing up. We have some crazy memories, B...

Remember when we would play with our baby dolls every day after kindergarten together? We would pretend we were divorced, single-mothers, each with a full-time job and an infant to care for. Thankfully we had once been married to wealthy (and incredibly good-looking) individuals. They ended up being terrible husbands, afraid of commitment and true, deep emotional relationships. This ultimately caused both of our respective marriages to dissolve, but at least we had child-support checks coming in...wait, why did we pretend to be middle-aged divorcees when we were actually just 6 year-olds....

Remember the time we painted hundreds of pine cones thinking that we could sell them to neighbors and become millionaires? Yeah, we were kind of weirdos...Let's not talk about the moss-stuffed pillow market we dabbled in...Remember when your mom threw all the pine cones away? Thanks Mrs. White, millions of dollars just thrown out on the curb of Heritage Lane.

Remember the time I gave you a gorgeous hair-wrap with embroidery floss? Then we decided to take it out. And by take it out, I mean cut it out. As in, I took scissors and chopped a chunk of my best friend's hair off less than 1 inch from her scalp. This was right at the front of her hairline too, not just some random section mixed in towards the back. Sorry about that, Mrs. White. I guess that was kind of worse than pitching some poorly painted pine cones (my goodness, what alliteration!).

Remember when your Mom (Mrs. White you just keep popping up in this blog post!) watched you, me, Sean, and Kevin...and we "played" Church. Yes. We set up shop in The Chapel of the Holy Living Room at Our Lady of Heritage Lane, complete with grape juice wine and smushed WonderBread hosts. Sean was the priest, Kevin was either the lector or cantor, and you and me, well we were old church ladies of course! I'm sure we had some important role but we both know that you are the one who remembers the details of our childhood. I just believe the stories you tell me of what we did on the second Tuesday of November in third grade, etc.

Fast forward a few years...

Remember when we went camping with Rhianna to celebrate completing our first year at college, our first true extended periods of time away from one another. Happenings took place on that Harbor Island - a certain raspberry-flavored "drink" (sorry, Mom and Dad!) was brought in a cooler with other provisions...a cooler Mr. Flanagan may or may not have looked in before our departure...and what do you know, the next morning we waited for an hour in the hot sun for Mr. Flanagan to pick us up. What could have caused his late arrival since when we called him he said he would be leaving right away to pick us up? I believe his response to our sun-burnt complexions and complaints was, "Always easier to ask for forgiveness than permission, girls." I thought that was what we had done...

Remember when the three of us decided to go shopping on Black Friday but actually leave on Thanksgiving around 10pm? We spent 6 hours on a highway and at one point we traveled less than one mile in an entire hour. We made friends with a construction worker and gave him a turkey sandwich since he'd missed Thanksgiving with his family. He enjoyed the sandwich but was disappointed we didn't pack any beer to go with it. We met people who we had mutual friends with and learned that they had hit a deer, somehow, while traveling at a speed of about 2mph. I have no idea what I actually purchased once we got to the outlets but I do recall laughing hysterically and having some of the best conversations ever, while literally parked on a highway, with two of the greatest people in the world.

I cannot believe you are 21 since it feels like last week we celebrated Sweet Sixteens, whistfully thinking of the next 5 years and how much would happen between then and now. I guess what they say is true, time flies when your having fun and distance makes the heart grow fonder. I hope your day was wonderful and I say, "Bring on the next 5 years, 15 years, 50 years - whatever! We're ready!"

Happy Birthday Bridget!