H.W.M. Bridget...Happy 50th

How We Met..

Bridget and I go way back... We met at what I now know was one of the Happiest times of my life...

(Although you wouldn't have always been able to convince either of us of this then)..

I first laid eyes on her from across the street... Mr R and I had purchased our very first home... and the excitement of actually having your very own place made us giddy.. Light headed even.. or was that the paint fumes making us loopy.???
You see for each item you did yourself(: ie Painting.. Carpet etc.. )the builder would knock off some dough.. and That my friend was the name of the game..save it anyway you can.. We were all in the same boat.. All young ... just starting out... planning the rest of our lives...

The first couple of years.. we..were busy first getting our house ready..

Moving in...

having a baby..

oh that's right.. having another one 16 months later..

(Years later I would find out that while I was working on our second ankle biter... B would comment to her husband...

"You know.. I think that woman across the street is pregnant again... " He just chuckled at how absurd that would be...

Hmmmmmm.... Yeah...

I would see her now and again ... Wave....but never had to chance to go over and chit chat..I would later find out that she too was expecting.
She was due in July... I in October..

Our Daughters literally grew up together... and have maintained a close friendship.. K will honor Maria by standing up in her wedding May.. ( THEY too are still friends after all these years...How Cool is that??!!)

I wouldn't really get to meet Bridget until another neighbor had one of those CBSC Parties...
"Come Buy some Crap" party

You know... Make Up......Candles... Home Furnishings.. Cooking gadgets... Edible underwear..

It was after a glass or two of wine, we ALL let our hair down.. and got to know each other...

There was defiantly something interesting about this Tall drink of water...

She had a sharp wit... easy laugh.. and got my sarcastic humor.. We hit it off right away...

As time went on.. we would share some of life's most perfect moments..
(But like I said.. You don't always realize it till it's over..)

Our girls played together.. Fought together.. Made easy bake oven cakes together... Weaved weeping willow wreathes for us under our tree.....
They went to Tap... Jazz....Ballet...together shared Birthdays.. First days of school... Halloweens .. First Communions.. and we moms stood back and took it all in..All of life's little firsts were happening.. we had the pleasure of watching it all happen together..

Our friendship grew as well... We'd walk the kids to school for the first few days and then have Coffee at the kitchen table....We Shared Ideas about gardening and flowers....Field Trips for antiques...We got to know each other's families very well...Have had many a lunch together..

OH.... THE LUNCHES....!!!!

Even now.... theses glorious get togethers can last a good 3 hours!

(Hey we don't get together as often ... it takes time to catch up....)

During our sometimes prolonged stays even the most kind hearted waitstaff will tire of seeing us there and shoot looks of ...

"Come on already ladies.!!!!"

So of course when we feel the scram vibes being sent our way....we do what any level headed women who want to catch up would do....

We move on to someplace. else for coffee.
Yes we have had us some fun...

In the early early days.. neither of us really had two nickels to rub together..( Not that we do now.. those lean years seem to be making a comeback)

Back then though we were all so broke... it didn't matter...somehow we all found ways to make it through...

In an effort to save on fresh Veggies....we often made crack of dawn junkets to Eastern Market on Saturday mornings

One such morning memory still gets us laughing...

It was still dark out as I picked up a sleepy bleary eyed Bridget..she opened the door to get in ..... the over head lights came on revealing my glassess ( Which I needed for driving) perched precariouly on my nose ... One arm missing
They were virtually suspended by the other arm and my nose.

After a quick double take on her part...We both just sat there and laughed at how ridiculous it was.

However.... she also understood perfectly what it meant to forgo something for yourself...because your kids comes first.. The best thing to do was laugh about it.

We have laughed at the funny stuff and cried at the painful.

That last statement is perhaps the most profound for me... You see.. I do have a bit of a reputation for being "Funny".... Funny Ha Ha... that is...

So I have tons and tons of people that I can share that part of me with.. Hell even perfect strangers have shared THAT part of me.. but

There are very VERY few that I share the not so funny parts of my life with.... at least in any great detail.

This is not the case with Bridget...

She knows so much about me and the sad/painful things in my life.. and yet has never made me feel bad .. judged or Most important... repeated anything she knows.

I would hope to say the same is true for her. I too have tried to be the same kind of friend who sits back without ANY judgment .. and just listens... never to discuss what has been shared.

People......

That kind of friendship ... is rare.

So it is with great Love and appreciation on her ...

TA DAAAAA !!!

50Th Birthday !!!!!

That I let her know how much her long dear friendship has meant to me..
Brig....

Because you are half Irish...

" Here's to good Irish friends Never above you Never below you Always beside you."

"May the Lord keep you in his hand and never close his fist too tight"

and because you ARE half Italian... Cent Anni !!(Sorry I had to include her Virgin trip to eyebrow threading.. I actually wet my pants that day...Thank You extra absorbent DEPENDS! )