Today I am thinking of my friend Kathy.

And as I have mentioned in other posts, she is the oldest friend I have now. Or rather … she is the friend I have had the longest at this point.

We knew each other in grade school and have been friends ever since. And with the exception of the last several years, we usually lived somewhat close to each other.

As I’ve mentioned before we have known each other since the third grade. When she lived up the hill from me…. actually the street parallel to mine … and we went to Elementary School together …

She moved, I moved … to the same place. In sixth grade we were once again in the same school … and I lived up the road not far from her. Once we went away to college, she and I lived in the same dorm. And were in the Band together in High School and College.

When she married, I was her Maid of Honor. When I married, she was my Matron of Honor. You may have heard of her in a few of my previous posts … actually quite a few.

There is I Have a Voice, Who Knew? In which I talk about talking … in print … like she and I did as children.

There is Friends of Holly … Part II in which I discuss her in a bit more depth.

There is Screaming As She Went in which the story is told of how we used to do stories and tapes back and forth in Junior High … and little cartoon-like tabloids. Again with the tabloids. We were ahead of our time.

There is The Story of Kathy and Holly … Forty Years Later where I wax nostalgic about our lifelong friendship.

And she will have her own page in the Friends of Holly section of the site here. I promise. I really will get around to doing those pages. Really.

I have to tell you that I was jealous of her perfect handwriting all through school. It inspired me to improve my own writing and ultimately to do Calligraphy for a hobby.

And the Cards.

Kathy would unfailingly send me a Birthday Card each year. And a Christmas Card each year. And recently when I was going through a particularly hard grieving of love lost, she sent me a Hang In There Card.

A true friend.

So why do I … once again … write about Kathy today?

Well, today is her, um *cough cough*-tieth Birthday.

Quite the momentous occasion.

I, of course would not mention the exact number of years … that would be unkind.

Did I mention that I just recently celebrated my Sixtieth Birthday?

And on that Birthday she wished me a Happy Happy … oh, and made some comment or another about old age and whatnot. Must have had me confused with someone else or something.

So I am thinking that posting about her birthday … you know … the momentous *hack hack*tieth one on a blog that is seen world-wide would be a really cool thing to do … right? I mean, as long as I didn’t mention any number or anything …

Happy Birthday, My Friend, Happy Birthday.

And thank you for being my friend.