My Besties

Today I want to talk about BFF's. What I say about them here is just a miniscule snippet of the amazing and absolutely beautiful women they are. It doesn't even begin to delve into the depths of their personalities, their kindness or the ways in which they enrich my life. I hope they read this so they'll know just how much I love them!

This is Erin, the pie maker. I love calling her that. How could you not like a pie maker? Don't you just instantly like her because she makes pies for a living? But if you knew Erin, you'd like her no matter what her profession. You'd like her if all she did was mow lawns from 9 to 5. Or if she was a tax collector. Or a telemarketer. Or even a door to door vacuum salesperson. I guess you might not like her if she worked on death row or something. But she'd never do that. Too depressing. Besides, who could handle all that drama? I find myself a bit off-topic here. Where was I? Oh yeah. Pie maker. She makes all manner of other culinary goodness too. Mostly of the pastry variety. (Excuse me while I salivate). Erin and I met the first day I moved up to Humboldt State. We lived on the same dorm room floor. (Why we weren't roommates, I can't even imagine. It was most certainly due to a clerical error in the fate department up in heaven). We were instant friends and shared many a fun and mischievous adventure at HSU, as evidenced by this photo. (I wish my scanner wasn't so awesome. I'm getting tired of the crystal clear photos it's always churning out...ugh). (Oh, and it's probably best if you don't ask what in the world we are doing dressed like that...and with hair like that...and with makeup like that. Uh, no, we were not women of the night, trying to make extra money to buy textbooks, so you can just strike that from your minds. Hey, by the way, a great college friend, Kimmy, helped us get this look for that night. She's a gem too!)

After college, Erin had to go and move off to Colorado (which is way lame, 'cept I'm way jealous cuz it's totally awesome there) (and right now Erin's saying "uh, how would you know, you never visit me, you crusty, travel-phobic homebody"). Erin is FUN. She's spontaneous. She's at her happiest when doing something for others. She's very thoughtful. Case in point: The first night she was here visiting in April, she took a walk with Hannah, our dog. It was dark and she got lost. Some nice people in an adjacent neighborhood printed out a map for her and helped her get back to the house. The next day Erin baked some chocolate chip cookies and delivered a plate of them to the door of the nice people who had given her directions. (Which I was kind of mad about because I wanted all the cookies for my own devouring pleasure. I mean, come on. Why does she have to be so stinkin' thoughtful all the time anyway?). SIGH. That's just how she rolls.

This is a photo of me, dfK and dfS. We always dress like this. We're kind of like the Stepford wives. Not really. (Big shocker). It's just a Halloween photo. And I had to use this photo because, to my utter disgust and disbelief, we barely have any pictures of us. It's horrible! Okay. Commitment 2009: Take more besty pictures. DfK is on the left. She also goes by the names Sainty McSainterston and Mother Theresa. Actually, she'll answer to neither of those names because, like most saints, she'd never claim to actually be one. But anyone who knows dfK knows that until the 2nd coming of Christ, she's the closest thing to Jesus on this earth. If you're cold, she'll give you her jacket. Not the stinky ratty one she'd take camping, but the cute new one she got at the mall last weekend. (Not that she owns a stinky, ratty jacket, she's a very clean person...It's just an example...I find myself getting bogged down in the details here...) Anyway, whatever jacket she gives you, she won't expect it back. If you're sick, she'll bring you Starbucks. If you're hungry, she'll bring you chicken enchiladas. One half will have green chiles and the other half won't, just to cover all the bases. DfK made my family dinner once a week during the last few weeks of my pregnancy with the twins. She also had dinner waiting on our doorstep the moment we brought the babies home from the hospital. Dinner from dfK isn't just your usual lasagna and that's it. Nope, it's meatball and vegetable stew, in the crock pot, which she brings over so you can keep it warm 'til you eat it, fresh french bread, a complete Caesar salad and some homemade chocolate on chocolate cupcakes. DfK is a busy, involved mom to three children, and yet she still finds the time to do nice things for others. She is probably the kindest, most forgiving person I know. In fact, I've told her my deepest, darkest secret, and she still loves me. Didn't even bat an eye, really. That's dfK. That's just how she rolls.

DfS is the one above with the purple hair. I'm tired of calling her dfS. (Hold on a sec while I go to an online name generator and find out what her pirate name is...Hmmm. Turns out her pirate name is Whinin' Frances Dagger. So let's just keep it at dfS for now. But I'm still working on changing it. If anyone has any good new names for dfS, let me know. DfK too.) DfS is equal parts just like me and equal parts way better than me. Which is perfect because the parts that are just like me make her my sister for life. The parts that are better than me inspire me to do better and be better. She makes me laugh every day. I never don't feel good about myself when we are together. She won't let me feel bad about myself. I've also told her my deepest darkest secret and she still thinks I'm good, and has made it her mission in life to make sure I think I'm good. In fact, she really has seen the ugliest parts of me. She's seen that I can be petty, selfish, negative, cranky. One time she saw me spank my dog Hannah with a tad more zeal than I should have. (In my defense, my dog had just knocked over dfS's toddler son and drawn blood with her claws across his back in a Tasmanian-devil-like display of unbridled excitement and spasmodia (haha, my spell checker went nuts over that word). I spanked Hannah out of horror and intense, in-the-moment dismay, but still...not my brightest moment). And to this, she still thinks I'm good. That's dfS, and yep, you guessed it...That's just how she rolls.

There's so much more to say! There's so many funny memories coming to mind that I'd love to share! So many more nuances and gifts they have that make them unique. I admire these little things about them so much. (For instance, Erin's gonna save our planet one CFL at a time. And did you know dfK sings like a nightingale? DfS was a teacher--what lucky kids those were! See? I haven't even scratched the surface!) I've had a permanent grin on my face the whole time I've been typing this. That's what these girls do to me. They make me smile. They make my heart smile. I'm not sure what I ever did to deserve 3 such amazing women in my life that I can call my friends. I honestly don't think I do deserve them, I just got lucky!