Lookin Out My Back Door

It's Workshop Wednesday time and the prompt I chose is
3.) Describe someone in your life you wish you saw more of: This was a no brainer and gave me a chance to write a post about someone I love a lot and haven't posted about yet.
My BFF Gayle. I hope she reads this one and knows how much she means to me and how much I miss her evry day.

There used to be a time I could stick my head out my door and hollar "Gayle, if my kids are down there, shag their ass home. Supper's ready!" and my best friend would send my kids home before the last word was out of my mouth.

My youngest child actually found my BFF for me when we moved into our house. We were all so busy moving furniture and unpacking boxes but he was only 5 so he was out exploring his new neighborhood. He wandered down a few houses and found a little girl playing outside and decided he wanted to play too. Gayle (the little girl's mother) thought she ought to let me know where he was so I wouldn't worry and we became friends from that moment on.

If her kids weren't at my house, my kids were at her house and we never worried about them because we both knew each of us would treat them and discipline them just like the other would. They called us both mom and felt at home in both places. We've been there for all their graduations, weddings, and births of their children.

Gayle and I wore a path down the middle of the road going back and forth between our houses. We spent many hours laughing, crying, swearing and doing our fair share of bitching about our husbands, kids, families, friends and jobs. We might have even tried to solve world peace in there somewhere but gave up on that. It was hard enough trying to solve our own problems let alone world peace.

We've supported each other through many things. She was there for my divorce and I was there for hers. I stood up for her second marriage and she stood up in mine. The words "In good times and in bad" apply to us. We share a bond that often times makes us think we might have been twins separated at birth. I will be thinking about her during the day and all of a sudden my phone will ring and it will be Gayle saying she was thinking about me and had to call. It is so uncanny it's almost unreal. Gayle knows more about me than any one and if she ever wanted to do a tell all she would have some good stuff to put out there but I'm not worried because unless I truly piss her off, she will carry all that to the grave with her. Just as I will do with all the stuff I know about her.

3 years ago, Gayle fell in love with a high school sweetheart who just happened to live in New Orleans. They had started conversating by email and phone and he came to visit and Gayle went down to visit. Around this time Gayle started job hunting down there also just on the off chance something might pop up.

Lo and behold, my BFF pulls a double whammy on me! Not only am I in Mexico on vacation but it's also my birthday and when I get back there is a message on my answering machine to the effect that she has gotten a job in New Orleans and is moving! I literally dropped the phone and started to cry. My hubbs thought someone had died and I guess in a way someone had.

For a while I was very angry at Gayle for leaving me. Who was I going to talk to when I had a problem? Who could I stop for drinks with after work? Who would be there when I needed that shoulder to cry on? Who would understand me like her? But I didn't have to worry because whether she is just down the street or across the country she will always be my BFF and that bond never dies.

We may have to tell each other our problems over the phone or via email and text but we still can. And we may not be able to stop after work for a drink but we can open bottle of wine over the phone and toast one together. You can get really drunk over the phone and not have to worry about driving home from the bar!

I wish she still lived down the street and out my back door but she comes home once in a while and I have made the trip down there to see her and will do so again.

Friendship never dies. I love you and miss you Gayle. Now get your ass back here where it belongs!!!!



Now head over to Mamakat's to read other post's while I quit blubbering here