Layers of friendship

This is the fifth day of the Love Blog Challenge,
hosted by the lovely BelleBrita.
Prompt for 2/7: Best friends

Driving down the street where we lived on a chilly evening, I could see the flashing lights and my heart started to beat a little faster. As we got close, I could see that the fire was small, across the street and, evidently, quite under control.

My 4-year-old and I pulled into the driveway, and I noticed a woman standing on the curb with a few others. She was pregnant and wore no coat. So, I ran into the house, grabbed one of mine, ran out, and threw it over her shoulders. I don’t remember much more of the day.

But as it turned out, she was renting the home next door with her husband and their dog.

A few weeks later, her daughter was born, four years younger than mine – and we were new mom neighbors. As I look back, I can feel more than see how the layers of our friendship grew.

She’s ten years younger than me, but that didn’t seem to matter. We were both in the thick of it, when families are changing and every day demands exponential growth in being a grown up and mother. We did it together.

And she’s a morning person, through and through. Guess what I am. We would sit, planning the day over coffee and I’d bemoan a few loads of laundry and vacuuming to do. She’d just smile and say “Well, I’ve already done that, so what else should we do?” Smarty-pants.

When she was running late for her aerobics class, she’d dash over, push her little one in the front door and say, “I’ll be back in an hour. OK?” Of course it was.

When she miscarried, I brought daisies and sat in silence. At Bill’s funeral, my 12-year-old sat between us.

When her second was born, I lived in Wisconsin, she in Illinois. I was concerned: Would missing an up-close ringside seat to a life event that big create distance between us? But then I saw her face and held him close for the very first time, and the gap disappeared.

She has always had lots of friends, lots of events, lots of adventures.

My circle is small, and home is my favorite place.

But for some mysterious reason, we were fast friends.

For some miraculous reason, we are best friends.

Our kids are all grown and have their own, creating new worlds for both of us. We live hours from each other. She has loads of new friends while my circle remains small.

But it will always and forever be you, Laurie. I must be the luckiest girl in the world.