Wishing my friend,Monica, an extremely Happy 40th Birthday!

Many moons ago I was blessed to meet my dear friend, Monica. We hit it off immediately, hanging out at least one day over most weekends, sharing life events, emailing back and forth non-stop while we were at work – after working a night shift, she even slept in the waiting room ALL DAY LONG  while I was in labor with Zoe. She brought me food when I was an exhausted and starving new mama. She bought Zoe amazing, yet horrible gifts – you know the kind that only friends without kids buy…and Zoe loved every single one of them. Monica is the kindest, most giving, fun-loving, always up for an adventure kind of friend. I can honestly say, some of the funniest moments I’ve ever experienced have happened with her – I still can’t look at the yellow squares on a Candyland board without crying laughing. Life happened and sadly we lost contact with one another. Years went by, her name started coming up in conversation more and more…and then my aunt passed away. An aunt that Monica adored and would have no way of knowing had passed – I bit the bullet and reached out to her. 

I know why I reached out to her – I couldn’t NOT do it – it was a compulsion to send her a message that I couldn’t quite explain until I read “Golden Girl” by Erin Hilderbrand. Elin is one of my favorite authors – she is best know for her annual summer beach reads released every June. Two years ago, the summer release was “Golden Girl” – I bought the book as soon as it came out, but it took me a month or so to really get into it. Once I dove in, I couldn’t put it down. And then it ended and I sobbed. I’m not going to give away the ending, but suffice to say I couldn’t help but relate the ending of the book and my reaching out to Monica when I did at the beginning of January 2018. The reason I find the whole thing so unusual is that just two months later my life-long best friend, Heather, passed away quite unexpectedly. I was so grateful to have Monica there to support me through that insanely difficult time. And while I might never have phrased it the way Elin did, the event that brought Monica and me back together never quite felt accidental. If you’ve read the book, I’m sure you understand what I’m saying here. 

I’m so happy to have Monica in our lives and to have created many new memories in the last five years.  Monica quickly resumed her role as the auntie who gifts my girls all sorts of ridiculously amazing things. She is the first person I text every single morning. We are truly soul sisters. As hokey as it sounds, it just feels like we were always destined to be friends. Other than my husband, I have never had a friend who loves me, encourages me, supports me, and just all around “gets” me like Monica does. She has pushed me to write and when I fall off the writing wagon, she nudges me to get back on track. She sees the best in my abilities even when I can’t see them myself. Monica is one of those people that is just super talented – she’s crafty, artsy, and can cook like you wouldn’t believe. She is a gifted potter and two years ago indulged her love of pottery and has turned it into an enviable side-hustle. We have been blessed with numerous custom pieces of Monica’s pottery. I don’t have any skills to make any physical gifts like she does -so I decided in honor of her 40th birthday, I’d use my gift of words to craft an ode to her. Thank you, Mon, for being such an amazing light in not just my life, but that of my husband and daughters, too. You are truly a gift to all of us! You’ve done so many amazing things in your first 40 years…I can’t wait to see what the next 40 bring! Happy Birthday! I love you!