HAPPY BIRTHDAY AIMEE

20 years ago i snuck around aimee's house with lots of toilet paper and wrapped it around trees with some friends to tell her happy 16th birthday. who knows why that is a "nice" gesture but i did it. she was becoming a good friend. i had taught her some chess, she had taught me some mormon doctrine. we were as different as night and day, black and pink, mod and preppy. but our friendship continued. a year later i became mormon. we took off to byu. then we went on missions. she fell in love quickly after returning from her mission (or maybe sooner :)) and i have yet to fall in love for the long haul.

when best friends marry it is scary. you either get to add a new great friend OR lose your best friend all together. thankfully, i got a new wonderful friend curt. aimee has gone on to rear a family of soon to be 5. we are still pretty different. i live in dc. she lives in gilbert. i am a fed. she is a mom. i am liberal, she is conservative. etc. but we are still wonderful friends. the best of friends. our friendship is wonderful because it has lasted so long, though so much change but we are always there for each other.

thanks aimee for being you. for being 36 while i am still 35. for sharing so many wonderful moments and being someone i can always share the cruddy moments with too.

here's to another 20 years. hopefully by then we will have thrown in a couple of extra ferris birthdays. here's to bocce balls and flag burnings (and their constitutionality); trips to the river; closing our eyes; babies being born, break-ups, sickness, health, and on and on.

loads of love to you!!!!!!