Old friends : )

I met Low Maintenance Grrrl in homeroom on the first day of eighth grade. The school system had been reorganized, a new middle school created, and none of us were sure what the year would be like. Three elementary schools fed students into the current classroom, and there were lots of unfamiliar faces.

We were excited and nervous and jittery as we surveyed each other. As we took our seats, most of us tried to sit near friends from our old school, but one girl plopped down in the middle of us all and had a different plan.

I don’t remember her exact words but I know they were something like this, “I need to meet some new people!” And then she pivoted around in her chair, started asking people their names and introducing herself.

That was how I became acquainted with Low Maintenance Grrrl and her no nonsense, take charge personality. LMG was someone who was always popular in school, not because she was cool or rich but because she was unabashedly herself.

Friendly and outgoing, she had the capacity to transcend high school cliques and establish relationships with a wide variety of people, guys and girls, jocks and brains, good old boys and hometown girls.

We had nearly all of our classes together throughout high school and bonded through our shared love of track and distance running. Our high school boyfriends were great friends, and we spent a lot of time following the Nature Boys on trails and hikes and dates involving rain and hypothermia. When our boyfriends dumped us, we became champion cadet chasers at the local military college. We kept stats together for our high school football team, served as co-captains on the track team, ran road races together, and both received scholarships to the same college, where we continued our friendship as roommates.

Low Maintenance Grrrl was with me the night I met E and was my maid of honor when we married. Since then, we’ve lived thousands of miles apart but always kept in touch as we navigated marriage, jobs, motherhood, disappointments, medical issues, and deaths in our families. She’s changed careers, earned a master’s, started her own accounting firm, raised a son, joined Michael on plenty of camping, hiking, and whitewater adventures, and been a loyal friend to many.

Today is Low Maintenance Grrrl’s birthday, and seeing as I’m on the road, I didn’t get a card out. Happy Birthday Vicky! I hope Michael and Low Maintenance Boy celebrate your day with gusto!

July 31, 2007

Comments

[Lynn]

Here, here! Happy Birthday!! LMG is the best! We met in college, she's the reason I became friends with V-grrrl, and has been with me through much also! Usually my cards go out late - I actually sent it out a week early to be sure I wouldn't forget!!

[Low Maintenance Grrrl]

Thanks V-grrl – you are too generous. I think I’ll save this post for my Low Maintenance Grrrl obituary (I’m in no rush, but you write much better than I do).

I am having a low maintenance birthday with my preferred hike and picnic after work. Michael is a great cook and I prefer his picnic over a restaurant any day. Low Maintenance Boy is enjoying his trip to England, Wales and Italy with friends before he starts college in August.

Lynn- now I feel really bad – I totally missed your birthday…

Thanks for the good wishes,

Low Maintenance Grrrl

[Shirley]

What a lovely birthday tribute to your friend! She sounds like one of the very best. Our friends are truly some of the ultimate rocks (and jewels!) in our lives. I am so grateful for mine. And, your comment, Lynn, is so typical ... one great firend introduces us to another and the cicle delightfully expands for the good of all :-).

[V-Grrrl]

LMG,

If I get to write your obituary, I'll be sure to mention you also have a great rack. :)

[Peter]

I'm an outsider in this post, but I often wonder why Belgians often (virtually always) fail to keep in touch when there is a physical distance involved.

It's weird: this country is only 150 miles from border-to-border, but I lost touch with all of my schooltime friends simply because they moved - in Belgium any distance between 50 and 100 miles is considered to be "the other side of the galaxy"

Belgians book 5h flights to Turkey and Egypt during the summer, but visiting a friend 100 km from home is generally "not done".

Maybe it's the crazy grid locked traffic: visiting my parents at night takes a 2 hour drive, and it's only 15 miles from Antwerp.

Anyway, I just loved reading your tribute to pure friendship.

[Shirl Grrrl]

Woops! I'm late! Happy Belated LMG! I've had company and that is my reason for not getting a birthday card in the mail! I hope it was the best! I met LMG the same way V did and she is all that V wrote and more! It is because of LMG that I have the life I have today! It's a long story, but if she had not sent me a job application for a certain medical school library I would have never met my husband. I probably would still be in my home town working at Kenny Burger! I would add to V's words that one of the reasons that everybody wanted to be around LMG in high school was her humility. A lot of kids would have let their popularity make them unapproachable to a shy, wallflower like me. I count mayself honored to have been a close friend. Cheers, my friend!
I would also add that not only does she have a nice rack but she also has a great tan!

[J]

Happy Birthday! So cool to have been friends that long. :)

[V-Grrrl]

Shirl Grrrl,

Shame on me--I also forgot to mention her dimples.: )

[Ortizzle]

LMG sounds like a superb person and a great friend. I have only one friend from that long ago that I still keep in touch with. We met when we were 7 and have weathered different cities, different states, different countries, and... pretty much all the ups and downs you listed. Even if we have not been in touch for a long time, we still remember each other's birthdays and phone or email on the day.