be frie/st nds

this is not about sydney. this is about friendship. deal with it.

i got an email today from jennifer, my oldest friend. jenn and i met at her fifth birthday party: my family had just moved to her neighbourhood and i was to be starting at her school that fall and so rita, her wonderful mother, kindly invited me to meet the kids i would be joining in sk that september. jennifer was not impressed and i certainly don't blame her. can you imagine your mom inviting some strange boy to your birthday? and then he has the audacity to wear suspenders? good grief.

it took several years and the relocation of jenn's original best friend (christina starr stubbing- i include that because i always marveled at the fact that her middle name was starr) for us to enter into best friendship. but once we were friends were unequivocally best friends. we were storybook friends, kindred spirits. we have similar colouring and were about the same height at the time and people used to ask if we were twins. we were ecstatic. it helped that we had the same black and multi-neon striped shorts. but we couldn't have been happier. happy as a clam. happy as two clams.

we had the same imagination- we played 't.v. movie' (not movie, specifically t.v. movie)- we were long-lost twins dreaming of a reunion and would sit at her bedroom window and pretend that it was a split screen and we would sing "i'll be home for christmas." seriously. i loved jenn- she knew the girl's part to the 'growing pains' theme song and she put mayo on everything. she would eat toast with just mayo for breakfast. we were inseparable. when one of us was in the washroom the other one would sit outside the door and we would talk the whole time. inseparable. perhaps that part isn't exactly storybook- but it was us.

jenn was my friend through everything- when things were tough with the boys who could hit the ball off the t and who loved 'wayne's world" i always knew jenn would be there. i left our school after grade six and life has taken us down different paths since but never too far apart that we forget our friendship. whenever i here her shriek or someone starts the beginning of light my candle from rent ("what you forget?" "gotta light?") i can't help but know that we share a connection that cannot be matched.

jenn emailed me this morning with exciting news- she is engaged to be married to a lovely guy who loves her. i am thrilled for her! she has a ring and was proposed to in the snow. she is going to become a wife someday soon. her news has got me thinking, deep down thinking. and thinking lots about her, about how much a part of my life she is and always will be.

congrats jenn. i hope your life always keeps you happy. i am so proud of you, proud in my most secret heart.

i can't wait to see how our t.v. movie turns out.