Rando Commando

1. Whenever I watch Steel Magnolias, I get the urge to move to a small Southern town, adopt a drawl, marry the first nice guy available and start popping out fat babies while I stay perfectly slim.

2. So, basically, someone pitched "I want to do the movie Taken, but with a woman looking for her son and in a tv show instead of a movie and call it Missing" and someone said "Yeah!"

3. I'm VERY excited for Spring. Today was one of those warm, breezy, happy days where you think anything and everything is possible and you just know great things are coming blah blah blah. I haven't seen a robin or a woodchuck yet, but the sun warmed my smiley little face all day long and I can smell rain in the air so good enough. For now.

4. Books: I just finished reading Water For Elephants and I am SO said it's over. I can't find my copy of Hunger Games to re-read it before seeing the movie. Not amused by that. Have no idea who I loaned it to. I'm also a tad miffed that the movie The Lorax is now some sort of comedy.... that book is not a comedy.

5. If strawberries and bananas were so meant to be together, which they clearly are, why do they grow in different regions of the world? I want a strawberry patch and a banana tree in my back yard, dammit!

Leeniekins

When we were 6, I loved her long braid. Pretty sure she was the only one of all the girls I know that never got head lice from the scummies in elementary.

When we were 8, I was so jealous she won a pink cake with sprinkles at a school fundraiser. Which was great, because she had cut that braid off and was having a bad day.

When we were 10, I moved near her and we got to ride the same bus. She would come to my house and we'd build forts. We would sled for hours on end. We would explore all around the fields, jumping on round bales and once we snuggled down between them thinking that would be a pretty awesome fort spot until she jumped out and started rolling around on the ground. I was asking her what was wrong and as she was scrambling away on hands and knees yelling "MOUSE!" I saw the scared little thing climb out of her snow boot and run back into the safety of the bale.

When we were 11, we ran through the woods at 6th grade camp at night and she hurt her ankle. I remember being happy my Dad had showed up to stay the 2nd half of the week. But after camp, I got taken to a new house because my Mom and Dad had separated.

When we were 12, she held me while I sat crying when my Dad told me he he was marrying someone else.

When we were 13, she would sit with me laughing and gossiping about boys while I flushed my feeding tube out and mixed up my powder for that night's intake.

When we were 14, she was the first person I asked to be brought to the hospital after my surgery. She sat in my hospital room and told me all about what was going on at school.

When we were 15, she was my driver's ed partner. Even though I had to sit on a pillow to see and be able to reach the pedals at the same time, she wasn't that scared to ride with me.

When we were 16, I snuck out of a house for my first time with her. And she always went out last and back in first in case we got caught. She was a sneaking whiz.

When we were 17, she was the first call I made when I lost my virginity. 5 minutes after the act.

When we were 18, we got in a borderline fist fight on a football field. We certainly did have our share of disagreements over the years.

When we were 20, I was at her house when my Mom tracked me down to tell me my Grandma had died after surgery. And she held me again crying on her kitchen floor and rushed me to the bathroom to throw up.

When I was 21, she bought me my first birthday shot.

We are 35. She is still around. We haven't run through woods in a while, but she still buys me shots. And the last time I told her I was going to cry, we were in Whole Foods and she looked at me with such profound sadness and I knew if I had, she would have held me right there in front of the bakery counter.

She is tried and true. There is not one thing I can't share with her. She's right there to support me or tell me I'm crazy or tell me she thinks I'm wrong, but whatever her opinion, she has always delivered it with love and compassion. (accept the time she punched me in the head) Even when going through a hard time herself, she's there to cheer me on and help me out in any way she can.

She's always up for an adventure or she's always up to stay in and laugh til all hours of the night. But the most important thing is she's always there. She is tried and true, that's for damn sure.

And she's a birthday girl tomorrow. I love you, Leenie. You have made this a thoroughly enjoyable 35 years and I hope I've done the same for you.