SSP

Yes, these are initials of a dear, dear friend of mine. To be honest, I was always jealous of her in high school as I thought she was much, MUCH prettier than me. She was pretty, smart, and all of the boys liked her... and then there was lowly me. I always thought of myself as a sloppy second to SSP.

In any event, in high school we had many, MANY a laughs and good times together. She was there for me after high school when I basically went nuts and moved to California. Did she pass judgment on me? No. She was there for me with unconditional love and support.

Believe me. At that point in my life unconditional love was not very abundant.

SSP and I are still to this day very, very, very close friends. Although I do not speak with her on a daily basis, there is an understanding between us that transcends daily written/verbal communication. It is a non-verbal understanding that does not require useless chatter.

SSP is a very special person in my life, and I am honored she is a friend of mine.
LOVE YOU SSP!!!!!!!

6 Friends

Yes, even bitchy me has six friends from childhood that I am still in contact with. They come out once a year to visit and have a good time.... and it IS a good time.

One of my friends quoted a movie. I think the movie was Stand by Me and it was the closing line. Pardon me if I butcher it, but it went something like this, "I would give anything to have friends like I did when I was 12 years-old. But then.... Jesus.... doesn't everybody?"

I am fortunate enough to say that I still do have the friends I had when I was 12....

Friends Forever

Do you remember writing "friends forever" in umpteen high school yearbooks back in 1985? I do, and I meant what I wrote.

I am the type of person that means what I say (and/or write). I have had the same core of friends since I was 5 years-old. We grew up together. We laughed, cried, fought over boys, partied, went prom dress shopping together, etc. We've helped each other through the thick and thin.

Now that we all are married and have families of our own, we still carve out time for each other. I am hosting a "wine country getaway" for the ol' high school gang next April. I'm so excited!!!

I am fortunate to have some really great friends. I've enlarged my circle of friends over the years, but I guess you could say that I'm extremely picky about the friendships I form. I'm drawn to genuine people, and I'm not into materialistic competition that is so pervasive in the relationships in our culture. That does not mean I don't have friends with money and material things. I do. However, it is not the focus of themselves -- many of them have done very well for themselves but are not obsessed with it. They don't confuse the stuff they happen to have for themselves. In other words, they are not their possessions.

So, if you think I don't like you it's probably because you're a materialistic, egocentric, arrogant asshole.