One of my very best friends, Debbie, turned 40 today.

Happy 40th Birthday, Deb!

I met Debbie while we were cycling our bikes around in our neighborhood. She was six and I was eight. We lived kitty-corner from each other until she moved right around the time I got my license.

It is hard to encompass that long of a friendship – and I have to admit, I didn’t know if we would last because we, both of us, and had grown and changed in our own ways.

We talked every day; escaped to each other’s houses; did each other’s dishes, chores, walked endless amount of times to school, Target or the park, and had countless sleepovers. I may have cleaned Debbie’s room a time or two. We played board games, four-square, tennis, had our first crushes.

Then junior high hit and we started having different friends, which continued into senior high. It is like our friendship expanded and contracted like an accordion – HA!

Our friendship then was formed and tested in a different way – a bigger and more adult way. Debbie helped me run away from home. She distracted my mother while I packed my car. We both almost got caught when my dad said, “Hold it.” Those seconds slowed down like a train breaking hard, steam flying and sound filling and expanding the fullness of your ears.

When my mom found out I ran away, she called Debbie and said that she was Debbie’s friend and why hadn’t she told her.

Debbie said very matter-of-a-fact – “I am Tessa’s friend. Not yours.” She then hung up the phone on my mom.

Then there was the two-day Chicago trip. 🙂 The wedding I flew from Boston to Minnesota only to be told by her aunt that I wasn’t invited and to come to the reception. I was pretty sure I was invited even though it was a small wedding, but her aunt had other thoughts.

When Debbie saw me at the reception she said, “Where were you?” This was before everyone had their own phones so no texting. When Debbie married Caleb, I kind of decided that I was already “present” at their first. 🙂

None of these years would had happened if Debbie’s parents had not allowed us to be friends.

About five years or so ago when Debbie was talking to her parents about me, I may had hit a milestone birthday myself, her dad said “We (your mom and I) are happy we allowed you two to be friends.” This may be paraphrasing a tiny bit, but right around that. Debbie, you may correct me.

Can you see Deb’s ears percolating?

When Debbie and I met that first summer, my mom walked over to Debbie’s house and said that “I was very sick. I could die, and that she didn’t know if they would want her daughter playing with me because I might die.”

Louie and Julie decided that I could die, but I could also live. And why would they take the chance of Debbie having a friend away?

Wise choice.

Louie and Julie never gave up.
Debbie never gave up.
I never gave up.
I (we) don’t know the meaning of giving up.

The possibilities are endless –

Rainbows have no end.