BFF

A couple of days ago I was telling my husband about an email I’d received from a friend. My reply to his question about which friend started with “my best friend from….”
Only when I saw his puzzled face, I realized I say that about many of my friends – “my best friend from…”. What can I say – I have awesome friends and here are just a few reasons why (in no particular order) -

R – For being my “grown up” friend. You inspire me to be better.
P – For leaving nice comments on my weird pictures. You’re the best at making me feel good about myself.
R – For being way too nice to me.
A – For being the friend who will tell me when those pants make me look fat.
J – For all those afternoons of doing nothing and still doing so much.
P – For letting me play “cops & robbers”.
F – For showing me I could be good at stuff.
K – For showing me one can know how to cook and still be cool.
R – For being happy for me even when you’re sad.
A – For endless cups of coffee and finding friends in unlikely places.
B – For being the closest thing to a sister I could have had.
K – For your uncanny ability to read my mind.
M – For shared dreams, tea parties and “Heidi”.
R – If you weren’t my friend, I’d be jealous of you.
P – You rock. Period.

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains;
You raise me up, to walk on stormy seas;
I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;
You raise me up: To more than I can be.
~ "You raise me up" by Josh Groban

cant believe u save mail from the previous century!

Scene 1: I’m filling out some form for work. For once I’m prepared with all the information I need. I just check a box here, write a number there, “dum di da di dum” is playing in my head…suddenly I see that the form requires a passport size photograph. I’m stumped. But not for too long – I remember that I had “organized” my things recently. So I head very confidently to the box labeled "R Stuff". And spend the next hour sifting through old letters, postcards, movie ticket stubs (Napoleon Dynamite. Don’t even ask), photos and other "memories" – including my laminated ID card from kindergarten. And the photograph in question? Not a single one in sight...of course! My husband is very supportive (not!), “It is not just about storage. It is about retrieval also”.

Scene 2: I put the box away and start searching my email – somewhere I had an order number that I could use to request reprints. And modern day technology being what it is – all I’d have to do is type the search terms “passport + photograph + order” right? Wrong. Apparently I use a very advanced email filing system – the only thing that turned up was spam from
http://www.your passport to a photographic memory - order today.com
Ok so the search idea wasn’t so great.
I start looking at subject lines of my emails to see if I can find it. I have no luck with “Picture this”, “A thousand words”, “Big picture”, “Portrait or landscape”, “Picture Perfect”, “At first sight”…the list goes on.
More “help” from the husband quarter – “You know, if you just deleted some of the junk in there, you might have more luck finding it”.
My (very mature) response is to make a face and say “Bah!”
Just my luck, the next email we see after that is one he sent me (in 2004) that just says “cant believe u save mail from the previous century!” – in response to a forward I sent him (that I had originally received in 1999).
I quickly close it and hope he hadn’t seen that e-mail. No such luck – he’s busy putting on his “I told you so” face. Game set match K.

Scene 3: About a week later I’m rooting around in my bag for spare cash. And the first thing I find? An envelope containing 20 passport size photos. And no husband around to watch my victory dance. (sigh).