I have been spectacularly fortunate in my extended family. I have cousins who are like sisters to me, I have aunts and uncles who I know I could turn to if I ever needed to, and each one has some special quality or characteristic all their own which makes them uniquely lovable.
My Aunt Shirley, my aunt because my Uncle Fritz had the good sense to marry her while he had the chance some time back, (I don't want to make anyone feel old, but the number 60 comes to mind,) is the best kind of aunt. She makes the world's best Special K bars, she has the most infectious laugh, she is the best hostess ever, she still worries about me getting sunburned at the cabin and reminds me to put on sunblock [too bad she wasn't here for the last Royals-Twins game I attended,] and she still loved me, even when I was an obnoxious teenager and everyone wanted to strangle me for being so mean to my mother. What more can you ask for in an aunt?
Although I got her a birthday card, it is, unfortunately, currently sitting somewhere other than in her mailbox. [I don't think we need to go into that any further. Blush.] So, to my Aunt Shirley, happy birthday to you, and many, many more. Consider yourself hugged!
The other special person who is celebrating a big birthday today is my long time friend and college roommate, Beth.
Beth and Sarah on May 23, 1982, when we graduated from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
We are not talking routine, run of the mill friendships here. This is a friend of the heart who knows all my secrets, so unfortunately for my readers, who are breathlessly anticipating my usual expose of humorous anecdotes, I will not be dishing any dirt here today. We have swept all that under the rug a long time ago.
Although, if I were going to dish up some funny stories, I could theoretically reveal we might have considered doing a little more sweeping and vacuuming while we were in college. Of course, we would have had to work around the less than cleanly dishes. Which might have been under the closets hanging on the wall. Not that I mean anything by that. Just throwing out some hypotheticals, here.
Beth and I have gone through a lot together, and I recently remarked that we seem to find ourselves going back in time. It's like we just graduated from college again - single, broke and trying to figure out what to do with our lives. I think I can safely speak for both of us when I say we are now ready to pass go and collect our $200.
The choosing of a college roommate is an inexact science, and you never really know how it will work out until you try it out. Living together in a dorm room reveals the cracks and fissures in the landscape of your relationship. There is no guarantee that living with someone just like you will be a success. And that doesn't mean opposites can't be best friends and work it out.
When I think about Beth and me, I am reminded of a Donny and Marie song from longer ago than I want to remember. [For those youthful brats who pretend they don't know Donny and Marie, that would be Donny Osmond, teen idol, and Marie Osmond, who used to be a country singer before she became the poster child for post-partum depression and whatever other causes she is currently representing.]
Beth was a lot country, I was a little bit rock and roll. Beth was an athlete, I considered moving from my bed to the sofa to be a major workout. Beth was a morning bird, I was a night owl. (The only way we were awake at the same time was if she lapped me getting up in the morning before I got to bed.) She was a blond Norwegian, I was not. She took school seriously, I took boys (and hooking rugs, for one memorable finals period) seriously. I was a creative writer with no self-discipline, she was a serious student that put me continuously to shame. We had nothing in common, if you looked at the surface.
Yet, despite our differences in nature and personality, our three year stint of rooming together worked out so well that she is still one of my closest friends, godmother to my children, [some more recently than others,] and keeper of my deepest secrets I wouldn't dare to tell anyone else. I know there were a number of people back then who wondered how we could possibly live together so successfully, since we were so different. The answer was pretty easy. Compromise, honesty, and shared values was the secret to our success. A secret we both evidently forgot when choosing our life partners, I would add, since we both ended up with the wrong people, which is how we ended up single once again.
The two special people who share this natal day remind me of how truly gifted I am in my life. As this day has approached, I have contemplated at some length how truly bereft I would be without all the people I love, and who love me back.
You are never alone when you have people who love you. The gift of love, freely given, is the only thing in life that is truly irreplaceable. Cherish those you love, nurture those relationships, and when you have the chance, let them know how much you care about them and about the relationship.
Aunt Shirley and Beth, you each have a place in my heart that cannot be filled by the love of anyone else. Wishing each of you the happiest of days, and in Beth's case, I wish that 50 times over! Happy birthday, happy year, and I want you each to know that I am looking forward to many more happy birthdays to come.
