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