Tomorrow I turn a year old and a lifetime wiser. When I was brainstorming about what I was going to do for my birthday a couple of weeks ago I thought about throwing a party and celebrating ME but this weekend taught me that today (even though it’s my birthday) is not about me. You see at the beginning of January I got a frantic call of my oldest friend, Millie, that she was going to get married- in two weeks. She’d been engaged for a while but after months of indecision about a date she settled on 1/19. There was a lot to be done and she needed me there. So I began the process of asking my husband to take off work, booking a plane ticket and getting my mind ‘right’ I was ready to visit my home state of KY to see my friend and celebrate her day.
That’s what friends are for…right?
As I began to make plans, I began to think about ALL of the things me and Millie had been through. Being friends since we were 7 there’s a lot we’ve been through:
- We rode bikes together.
- We’ve fought together.
- Consoled one another through endless breakups
- Listened during family drama
- Called one another’s enemies for one another
- taken up for one another
- Gotten suspended for one another
So there was no way I was going to miss her wedding to the man of her dreams. So Saturday morning I missed my daughter’s ballet class and boarded a flight to see her tie the knot. As soon as I landed home, I was busy helping her get ready. When I saw her walk down the aisle I was SOOO happy for her. By the time the night ended I was exhausted. Still needing to get back to Nashville to get ready for my 5:30 flight, I called the other friend who always has my back, my line sister Mere.
You see I could of rented a car (or let Millie take me back to Nashville the next morning) but since I was only going to be in town for 12 hours, I thought it would be a waste. (Plus I didn’t want Millie to have to get up the morning of her wedding and have to drive me to the airport.) Since Mere lives only 45 minutes from my hometown (it’s still across state lines) I called to see if they’d come and pick me up and let me stay at their house on Saturday night so I could take (with them taking me of course) me to the airport. (Did I mention Mere is 9 months pregnant?) That one call sealed my plans. Without thinking she told me, “Of course, we’ll come and get you!” So at 10pm on a Saturday night her husband drove from Nashville to KY (about a 45 minute ride) to come and get me. I got to spend time with her beautiful family and then he then woke up the next morning at 4am to drive me to the airport.
These two women exemplify the meaning of friends.
Even though I don’t speak to these women everyday they have my back-regardless- and I have their back. So this weekend when I was supposed to be ‘popping bottles’ (not really) I was spending it with women I consider my family. They’ve further brought home the fact that true friends show their actions! Love you ladies! Now listen to my ode to all of friends!
