Of Birthday Letters

I have been known to write letters to my children on this blog, but they tend to be full of sarcastication and contain hints about table manners. Or, if they're earnest, they are on the occasion of no great particular occasion. On their birthdays, I have not written the loving letters that so many mothers write -- not because I do not love my little ones (which I assume is pretty obvious) but because I have a dread paranoia of admitting to the Internet what days exactly are their real birthdays. (Call me crazy; I'm not afraid to own it.) Also I try really hard to say in person the things that should go in a letter, to tell them how proud of them I am, and what I hope they will see in themselves. Granted, there is a limit to how articulate and sophisticated one's prose may be in a birthday wish of the sort that is spoken to a newly-five year old, but still, I like to try.

Then I read a hilarious little bedtime story to herself over at Deb on the Rocks, and realized how great it would be to read those birthday tributes to grown-ups. Of course, I've missed Deb's birthday by two days, so I'm not sure I can be her mommyblogger. (Also, it may possibly be the case that I'm not actually a mommyblogger at all but rather a "personal blogger" or "diarist" or "drivel-ist" or whatever the word is for someone who just writes whatever comes into her head on any given day without thinking too much about the category in which that writing topic falls.)

Conveniently, yesterday was the birthday of my best friend since forever. (You'll note that I also did not write a post of tribute to her because I am apparently too much of a slacker. And that's the first thing that she and Deb have in common.) So I thought in the spirit of spreading the love, I would enumerate some of the great things they have in common.

1. I've known Best Friend for 29 years. I've known Deb for somewhere between 29 days and 29 months.

2. Best Friend can always make me smile when I'm down and has known exactly what to say about every boy problem I've had in my entire life (with the exception of the trauma of 6th grade, when Matt bought Kristin a Hallmark card for Valentine's Day and thereby cruelly crushed my unrequited love for him; but in fairness to BF, she and I hadn't yet met when that event happened, so it's not really her fault that she couldn't solace me).

Deb can be counted on to make me laugh out loud any time I click over to her site, and I'm 100% sure she gives great relationship advice, even though I've never had any from her. How do I know? I read her blog.

3. BF knows there is a time for seriousness and a time for Ouzo, and she is excellent at telling them apart and involving me in both. Deb has given martketing advice to FAO Schwartz, which perfectly balances the serious and the astonishing. (If you don't know the link between Ouzo and astonishment, you've never traveled with my Best Friend from Italy to Greece on an overnight ferry with just a deck pass and been handed a shot of Ouzo at 7am by a preternaturally cheerful hotelier. I pity you.)

4. BF has fantastic taste in interior furnishings, and her house on a bad day makes my house on a good day looked like chopped liver. Deb has (practically) redecorated the White House.

5. BF is a dreamer and a go-getter, a woman I admire tremendously, and one who is destined to be successful at whatever she tries because she puts 110% into everything. Deb is the Golden Child.

The point of this little list? Well, really, there are two. (1) If you don't read Deb on the Rocks, you should. It's hilariously full of all the innovation and sarcasm you could ever want. (2) My childhood best friend is an amazing woman that I'm proud to know still as an adult -- and if you don't have you one of these yet, I highly recommend running out to find one. You can't have mine, because that's not how the gig works, but I just thought it was worth saying publicly that a friendship can last 29 years and still be going strong.

Happy Birthday to two incredible women: my oldest friend and one of my newest!