Thank You, M.

The worst part of living in New Jersey has been my lack of friends. I miss my friends in Kansas City terribly. Most of the people I keep in touch with (or would like to keep in better touch with) from high school no longer live in Bergen County (take that as you will).

But on Sunday I went out to lunch with M. As M. pointed out, we are probably each other's oldest friends. I have known M. since tenth grade, which makes our friendship over twenty years old now (M. doesn't look like she has been friends with anyone that long, though, she looks just like she did when we graduated). M. lives about forty-five minutes away, which makes it even more challenging to get together than it should.

Anyway, M. wanted to take me to lunch for my birthday. Michelle is sweet and thoughtful like that. Our budget has been stretched so thin since we had the kids I can't remember the last time I bought a non-family member a gift. But M. wanted to take me out anyway. And she also bought me this lovely perfume just because she knew I'd never buy it for myself - when money's not tight we buy toys, of course. How sweet is that?

But even more than the material kindness was the way M. and I could just talk and talk and talk about anything, even though it's been months since we've seen each other. I had almost forgotten what it was like to hang out with a non-family member that I didn't have to be my "social self" for - it was so wonderful. But even beyond that, since I do at least talk to my KC crew pretty regularly, it was great to be with someone who knows all of my stories, even the ones I've forgotten.

So thank you M., for lunch and perfume and for being such a terrific, veteran (not old!) friend.