Happy Birthday to us!

So, today is my birthday. Yup. Big wow.

I am lucky enough to share my birthday with one of my best friends, Mary. I also share it with the family hippie, Howard...but that will not be germane to my post today. Though that is nice and easy for my entire extended family to remember the occasion. (this year however, pretty much all of my extended family is in Florida for my cousin's wedding on Saturday...which, let's face it is a MUCH bigger deal that some old hag's birthday)

But anyway, back to Mary. And let's just get it out now, she is older. Yes. She was born in the middle of the night, and me..4:30pm. So there, Mary. Take that!

Mary and I have been friends since high school. We spent our 18th birthday together, skipping school, eating our free breakfast at Denny's and getting our ears double pierced. Man, we were totally lame.

Over the years, we have become much better friends. She is a person I really trust. I feel like I can tell her anything and talk to her about how I feel and she will listen and even if she doesn't agree, she will respect me. And man, we can disagree. Mary, I am keeping my Thruway fast pass and I am using the self-checkout. It is called progress, not job stealing. UGH!

However, I can honestly say I have never been upset or mad at Mary. Not once. Our friendship is easy-going and natural. She and her husband JR are our first choice to go out with. We always have a great time together. No matter what we chose to do.

A few summers ago we decided to take the kids on weekly outings to keep them busy. That was an interesting mix of fun and painful. One outing was to Griffs Sculpture Park. That one was painful. Two strollers and mini mountain climbing were enough to kill me and Mary. We are no ummm...the outdoorsy types and the terrain was well....damn it we were climbing a frickin' mountain to see some damn metal sculptures. As my son and Mary's raced to the top of the "hill" they call down for us to HURRY UP. Mary yells "Noah, the fat people can't BREATH, so shut it!" If I was not out of breath before I was then, because I never laughed so hard in my life. Mary, there is no one else on this earth that I would rather have a heart attack and die on the side of a mountain with more than you, chica.

Mary is smart, beautiful, funny as hell and interesting and I wish she knew it. She drives me nuts with her lack of self-esteem, because I see her and I KNOW she rocks. Someday, maybe, I will say it to her enough so she realizes it and she can get me to shut up. I am proud and very happy to share my birthday with such a fabulous friend. It just gives us in excuse to go out together another night ( or two!)

Tonight we are headed out on the town with our men, last year we did a girl's only dinner. I know we will all have a good time. I know we will laugh until our faces hurt. And I know we are not climbing anything more than the two steps into the restaurant.

Mary, I love ya and I am grateful for you as my friend. But unlike our husbands wish..I am so not kissing you.

Happy Birthday, gorgeous! Oh, and to me too! ;-)