today marks my 20th anniversary with my first, true girlfriend, abby.
we were just girls when we met on a magical hillside in the berkshires. our adventures have been epic. we saw the southern cross together and made a canadian border run. we have bathed in coldwater creeks and california sulfer springs. we could teach road tripping 101.
we have never, ever lived in the same city at the same time and that has never deterred our commitment to our friendship or to each other. our friendship has taught me about unwavering devotion. abby showed me that if you pour yourself wholly into a friendship, the rewards are endless.
i am a better person because of her friendship and love. i keep her in mind as i raise two daughters and hope that they, like abby, are charming, selfless and brave.
twinnie brown - happy anniversary - i was smitten when we met at 14 and that hasn't changed! your beauty, intellect, compassion and kindness continue to inspire me - here's to the next 20! xo, twinnie red
p.s. tradition at 20 years calls for "china" - if you come visit me in saigon, i will take you here and buy you a noodle bowl.
TR - I am, of course, weeping as I write a silly comment in response to your beautiful post. If I had any sort of follow through, I would have my own blog to share such poetry on and we could even do something creative like those 2 days in July girls. But, like the many unanswered letters and phone calls that you have sent to me over the years, so would go my blog. So I will attempt to send my words here.
ReplyDeleteYou showed to me the version of myself that I wanted to be when I met you 20 years ago. In the two decades that you have been my TR, you have served as the soundingboard, measuringstick, and whatever other device that provides meaningful data and such at just the right time. I would not be myself without you.
You are my TR because, as the lore of our fated meeting goes, "on the very first day of knowing each other we said entire sentences together!!" I am so glad that my words found yours, and yours found mine. For it is our conversations, spoken and unspoken, that have made meaning of the world for me.
A & A are so desperately lucky to have you as a mother, and I hope to play whatever role I can in their lives, by telling them stories about when I and their crazy mom slept in a car in the middle of the woods, trying to fill holes in our hearts... when really we already had, because we were there together.
I love you, TR. Happy Anniversary