Lu's Day!

Lu is my bestest friend from child hood. Not many people in this world, unless you are from a small town like the one I come from, can say they've had a particular friend since 2nd grade. Well, Lu and I have been friends since the 2nd grade. Internets, that's a mighty long time.

This is the kind of friend you've been through just about everything imaginable with. Good times, bad times, and times where you just hated each other so good it ain't even funny. In the end, though? You know you love each other and you can't argue that God Himself put you in each other's lives.

We both ventured out in this world on our own at the age of 19. That was a long time ago, Internets. Ahhhh....to be room mates was a trip. There are stories that I have to keep to myself on that one. Rest assured, we visit the past from time to time and laugh ourselves silly over some of the things that happened. We were both in school and working at the time. Oh, to be young and able to do such energy draining activities like school AND work. I fondly recall the both of us having a weekend off together from time to time and putting a sign in her Accord saying something to the effect..."Single, Beach Bound, And Lovin' It!!" as we headed to Myrtle Beach for the weekend. Good times.

We were room mates for three years until I married. In that time we grew up quite a bit. Or maybe not. I'm still unclear on that sometimes. She had her son Jeff during that time and we both raised him best we could. In fact, during the courtship before I got married....that man was convinced Jeff was my child no matter how much I denied it. That baby went everywhere with me. I almost had to show a birth certificate to prove his claim was false. Jeff is a teenager now (lovely age of 16) who still loves his Aunt Hope. Why, just the other weekend, when we were home for a visit, I was on my Mama's front porch when a Jeep drove by with some guy hanging out of it hollering, "HEY AUNT HOPE!!!!" We have love for each other.

She has twin girls that I just love to pieces named Emily and Erica. I was there in the delivery room, pregnant at the time with Makenna. I held them both first and carried their tiny selves to the nursery. I would not trade that experience for anything in the world. I still feel honored that I was allowed to share such a beautiful and special time in their lives. They know Aunt Hope loves them and they are at home here with me as they are in their own home.

Let me tell you something. Anyone who has has the job of taking this girl for a surgery will tell you to just let me do it. That is one ornery gal when she comes to and I have been about the only one that can handle her mouth when she regains consciousness. I've had to miss one or two since my move, but I can guarantee you I got plenty of updated phone calls during the day and I don't rest until I hear her voice.

Lu was a bridesmaid in my first wedding. She was close by me for the second marriage. She was one of the first people I saw after giving birth to Vitt. She wouldn't leave until she laid eyes on him herself and touched his sweet face. I believe that nurse thought she was crazy when she met her at the door and gently took the rolling bassinet from her hands and said..."I got it from here." She cried a solid month before we moved to Georgia and tells me on a regular basis that she is anxiously awaiting our return to our home state.

I have been blessed to have this friend I call my Sister in my life. She has been a solid rock for me for so many years. I know in my heart that if anything ever were to happen to either one of us, we would be completely lost without the other.

There's not enough space and time to write of all we've shared. We should've written it all down as it happened. Wait. Strike that. I'm not so sure that's a good idea. Statute of limitations and all that good stuff, you know. Plus, Mama reads this from time to time and I'm pretty sure she'd still have grounds to put me on restriction. No...it's best left to being mostly memories.

On the phone yesterday I told her she no longer had birthdays. Now? Now we celebrate the anniversary of our birth. Doesn't that sound so much better?

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY OF YOUR BIRTH, LU!! I LOVE YOU, GIRL!!!


p.s. You get no picture post because when cameras come out, she either hits you (and it hurts!) or you end up with a shot of the side her head as she turns away. She never cooperates with picture taking.