Since I was four years-old, May the 28th has always meant one thing: My friend Michele's birthday. I'll never forget playing in my front yard on Normandie Dr. some 30+ years ago when a car and a moving van pulled into the driveway just across the street and, after being surrounded by Jake and Donna who were younger, and Darren, Dawn, and Robbie who were older; a girl my very same size climbed out of the car, waved at me from behind her mother, and held up four fingers to let me know she was just my age. We were inseparable for the next two years while her Dad finished college and have stayed in touch intermittently since then.
We have had many adventures over those years. I remember fondly our teen-aged visits back and forth here and in Ft. Worth: Climbing on our roof tops, ice skating at professional rinks and on the frozen blacktop at Whittier Middle School, watching The Lost Boys and Summer School endlessly (two of my recent movie quotes came from there because they were two of our favorites), letters, long-distance phone calls, silly crushes on stupid boys, driving around Ft. Worth at WAY too late an hour, poking fun at your Dad's taste in rental houses and neighborhoods, and meeting up at Six Flags. Lots of good times...and lots of making the best of bad times too. Parent fights, jerky boyfriends, divorce, and most recently the loss of her Dad. Which, sadly, is the last time I heard from her-and I wasn't smart enough to write down her cell number following that late-night phone call. Still a couple of hours surfing the web this morning found me a MySpace page, some pictures, and the news that she is expecting a baby boy! I left a Friend request, but even so I just felt the need to post some good wishes to the one person outside my family that I have known the longest! Happy Birthday Michele! I hope today is a good one! Just so you know, we may not be the best at keeping in touch, but I've remembered it was your birthday each and every year since 1976 and I hope to hear from you soon!
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