Happy Birthday, Marn!

Marn is the second of my wise women friends. For nearly twenty years we have met weekly for breakfast - sometimes lunch and occasionally dinner - to share what's happening in our lives. We worked for the same firm a lifetime ago - well, almost literally - and for the same lawyer. Our friendship was forged in the trenches of Weight Watchers. We walked at lunch time logging many miles across the Manchester Bridge and lost untold pounds together - several times.

We celebrated new jobs and new houses, and mourned the loss of old jobs and old friends gone too soon. We've coached each other thru the shoals of relationships and compared theories on the Y-chromosome. I feel like her granddaughter is an extended member of my family, and she keeps track of my nieces and nephew.

She's the day-to-day, go-to BFF in my life and the medical consultant I turn to most often. [Like me, she got her MD from Readers Digest, altho I have to admit that she has kept her continuing medical education credits more updated than I.] She coached me thru Mitchell's knee replacement and I did what I could to help her with her new hip. We've compared notes on aches and pains, pneumonia and UTI's.

More than most people, she understands my need to excel and my frustrations when the job doesn't provide those opportunities. She brings me back to reason when I go too far. She worries about my immortal soul, and she makes me laugh.

So, enjoy the day, Marn. It's yours, so celebrate! I'll get lunch.