The Story of the Little Girl Who Lived Next Door

We all have friends. If you are lucky you even have a small circle of best friends. If you are really lucky you have that one best friend that goes back longer than you care to think about well because then you start feeling old. 

My best friend has been my best friend since I was about 8 years old and that’s just about 31 years. Her family moved next door to my family, in Upstate NY. Our parents became friends and so did we. We waited for the bus together; we played together every day outside on swing sets and riding bikes. We grew a little older playing outside turned into watching movies like Nightmare on Elm Street and Karate Kid; baking and making her little sister eat dog food.  We only lived next door to each other for a few short years until her family moved away to Maine. It was a sad day. I remember her family waiting for the bus with me that morning. I remember crying but I also remember never feeling like that was going to be the last time I was going to see her. 

We remained friends. We wrote each other letters, snail mail style. Our families made trips for visits. Our parents would meet half way so I could spend a week with them in the summer. Then we were teenagers. We had boyfriends, licenses and cars. The trips were more frequent going both ways. There were break ups, Proms, High School Graduations, siblings, many other friends in the mix (who I’ve loved almost just as long),times where we lost touch for months at a time being busy with school and our local friends, but we’d eventually always pick it right back up. We have had College visits; College Graduations, our own apartments, parties, careers, new boyfriends that turned into Husbands with babies, weddings, more babies and became Godmothers and Aunties to each other’s children. We have traveled endlessly to be there for each other for every milestone and now our children’s, for support, love and encouragement. 

It’s a Friendship that I treasure. Besides my family she’s the only person in my life that I have known this long. She’s always been a constant in my life. She knows things about me that my other friends don’t and will never know because no other friend knew what I was like as a little girl. She’s a friend I know I can call whenever for whatever no matter what. She has seen me at my worst and at my very best. She is supportive, positive, loving and so caring. 

She is the best Auntie my kids could ever have. My oldest son will be 16 and he was the only child forever in everyone’s life. She never missed a birthday, a milestone, a card for silly holidays, gifts and Congratulations cards for pretty much every achievement.  She’s made endless trips to attend his birthday parties and stayed later than expected on a Sunday to see him in his first Halloween costume or catch a travel basketball game. She’s continued and done the same for my youngest son. 

I love her and her family, her parents, her sister and her family, her friends and their families. She brings so much to my life and her friendship makes me a better person.  

So, today on her birthday I want to say Thank you to her. Thank you for being you. Thank you for being the person that never required me to sacrifice my happiness, other important relationships or my dreams to be your friend. Thank you for your presence in my children’s lives. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me without ever judging. Thank you for being a loyal friend even though we spend so much time apart. Thank you for loving me just as I am. 

Happy Happy Birthday Melissa Ann!!