B&I

It must be about 12 and a half years ago now.  I can’t be totally sure though.  I met this woman.  Abrupt and brazen  and actually quite snooty if I really think about it.  I can’t say that I was overly phased by her though.  What terrified me about her – where her kids.  Two hyperactive adrenalin junkies.  I would spend five minutes in the same room as them and be exhausted. My nerves totally frazzled.  No room could possibly ever be the same once her children had tornado’d through it.  I’m embarrassed to admit this, but on one occasion when she popped in to visit I hid myself and Michaela (who was probably only a few months old at the time) in my bedroom cupboard so that she didn’t know I was home. 

I certainly would never have guessed, while hiding in terror in my cupboard that day, that she would one day, in the not too distant future,  become one of my best friends.  If I had known then, that I would one day be asked to be those children’s guardian I may have had a total nervous breakdown right there in that cupboard. 

As the years went by those two hyperactive adrenalin junkies became THREE hyperactive adrenalin junkies.  And as the years went by I totally fell in love with those THREE hyperactive adrenalin junkies and their parents.

Being highly sensory sensitive and permanently living on the brink of sensory overload the match was definitely not one made in heaven.  Actually.  Having said that, it’s probably the only way it could have been made.  In heaven. 

My friend and I, we have walked many roads together.  Many of those roads rocky and perilous.  But we have walked them together.  Sometimes hand in hand, other times one of us dragging the other along, and far too many times one of us has carried the other.  There is a bond that forms when you travel these roads.  A bond that cannot be broken through trials and tribulations.  A bond that even withstands anger and hurt.  It’s a bond that endures.  It’s a bond that lives and grows and strengthens as time goes by.

 We have laughed and cried and even fought many times over the years.  She has been with me through just about every life changing event.  She has encouraged and loved me, and often made me stand in front of the mirror and take a good hard look at myself.  She has told me the truth, even when she knew I wouldn’t be able to handle it.  She has made me deal with reality when all I wanted to live in was fantasy.  And I am so much better for it. 

It’s her birthday tomorrow.  And even though she lives close to the land of Far-Far-Away and I can’t share it with her in person, I’m celebrating with her in my heart.  Every time I pour a cup of tea I will think of the special memories that we shared together – always over a cup of tea.

Happy Birthday My Friend.