Happy 40th to You, Mary!

Today you are 40 years old - but believe me when I say that you don't look a day over, oh, say, 25 or so.

Really.

Do you know that I still remember the very first time I met you?  In Ann Parke's basement - I was there to keep a very young Will and Spencer (before Sam and Beeen!) and the two of you were off to do something-or-other.  But I remember rounding the corner of the lime green wall down there to see you crouched down telling a very nervous Will that you were going out with A.P. but that he got to stay and play with Spencer and his "friend" Becca.  And the rest, as they say, is history. :)

Will instantly became the most congenial child I'd ever met, and he still his.  That kid cracks me up all the time - he's like talking to an adult.  And, I remember meeting Ben for the first time, too.  I didn't know if I was allowed to pick him up out of that baby papasan seat (gosh he was maybe 4 days old?), and you leaned around the corner and out of the kitchen with the green light and said 'Becca, pick me up and feel how heavy I am!' and I was instantly in love.  Your boys are such a perfect reflection of your sweet, genuine spirit.

I could never tell you all that I have learned from you since we became friends.  I surely hope you know how much I look up to you.  Like with so many folks, I started out as 'Becca the babysitter' and have turned into part of the family.  I have never taken this lightly, and I think of y'all the same way. 

You have taken me into the fold of one of the things that you are most passionate about and helped me develop it as one of my own passions, too.  It has been such an honor to remember your dear, sweet Thomas with you and dive head-first with you - and John - into so many of the organizations and causes that make life maybe just a little bit easier for families who lose their precious children, or have very sick children, and are going through the very toughest battles they will ever face.  You've always gladly taken me by the hand for this, and I am forever grateful for it.

 

(...even if we do get lost in Greensboro and yell back at the navigation woman in the car when she gets more and more perturbed that she has to tell us that she is "recalculating".)

And really, HOW many times have we been asked if we are sisters?  How many times have I been called Mary, or have you been called by my name?  I consider this nothing but pure flattery, to have folks mistake me for you. 

Thank you.  Thank you for being one of my dearest, closest friends.  For being my sounding board so often; for being on the short list of people I call when I really need to talk to someone about something.  Thank you for letting me love your boys SO fiercely and letting them be such a huge part of my life and always always trusting me with them.  I would lay in front of a bus for them, and I mean that.  Thank you for ALL that I have learned about life and love and motherhood and friendship from you. 

You are one of the strongest, kindest, most dedicated, most loyal people I will ever know.  If you'd told me in that basement playroom that day years ago that I'd just met someone who would, in just a few years time, be someone that I would soon consider such a dear friend and 'big sister' all rolled into one, I would have probably said "nah, just babysitting for a few hours, that's all".  But, as it is often said, everything happens for a reason.  And I am so glad it does.

Happy Birthday, Mary!  I love you!