Once Upon A Time...

When I was in high school, there was this girl who was kind of on the periphery of a group of people I hung out with once in a while. Or maybe I was on the periphery of her close friends. Yeah, that's probably more accurate. Anyway, I knew who she was, and had the impression that she was a pretty cool chick, but I didn't know her particularly well. Just that we both enjoyed Star Trek: The Next Generation and shared a goofiness that kept us from ever being a part of the popular crowd. But then, most of my friends fit into that category.

In any event, the summer before our senior year, when schedules came out and we all called each other to figure out who had classes with who and when, I found that this girl, the one I had always secretly admired, the one who was pretty cool and liked ST:TNG, was the only person I was going to know in this stupid class I was required to take for graduation. I was so relieved that I wasn't going to be alone in this class, I think I might have squeed. When school started back up again, and I walked into this class for the first time, I found that not only was fate kind enough to put her in class with me, but it let us sit together. And thus began a rather unusual friendship.

It started out innocently enough. We bonded over a mutual dislike for our classmates, judgmental bitches that we are, and a shared love for science fiction. We passed notes to each other that probably started out normal, "what are you doing tonight?", "did you finish the homework from Mr. Tu's class?", "what is she WEARING?", but ended up being full of inside jokes and random insanity that only we could appreciate. We had sleepovers and ditched classes together. Before we knew it, we were helping each other through AP tests, coping with the idea that we couldn't afford to go to the colleges we really wanted to go to, and trying to figure out how to be grown-ups. (Sadly, that last part has never really come together for us....)

But it was at the end of my freshman year of college that our relationship took the defining step towards being what it is today. I had been, in essence, dumped by my former best friend and I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather cry to about it than this really cool chick I'd been hanging out with. She was there for me, both to hold me while I cried and, later, to dry my tears and tell me what a stupid bitch my former best friend was anyway. It was then that I realized what an idiot I had been in the last two years, clinging to a relationship in which I constantly felt insecure and unhappy, and not recognizing the value of the one person who not only let me be myself at all times, but actually really enjoyed who I was without expecting me to change. Duh! THIS is what friendship was supposed to be.

Since that moment, we've gone through a number of life altering events together. I've gotten married and had a child. She's gone back to school and is working on her degree. Star Trek: The Next Generation has turned into Stargate: SG-1. But one thing will never change and that's how I feel about her. She is the smartest, bravest, strongest person I know. She is loyal and fair and constant. She is beautiful, both in her outward appearance and inside her soul. And if I could choose to have a sister, I would choose her a million times over. I love her as a friend and one of the best parts of my family.

So. Today, on my best friend's 30th birthday, I just want to say thank you, Snark's Mistress. You can't even begin to know how much I treasure having you in my life. Enjoy this day, and all the rest to come. You deserve all of the very best life has to offer and more.