Seventeen Years...with Jennie Ann

It is difficult to recall the first day that I met Jennie Ann, but I do remember us being bound to one another by feeling that we were "on the margins" in high school- even among the eclectic group of friends we both had in common. We had commonalities-music, bad habits, and a penchant for living as if "we were burning the candle at both ends." Trust me, that sounds much more wild than it really was...

I do remember what we later decided to consider our "anniversary." At the time I was dating a young man in a band. His band was scheduled to play at a fraternity party at a local college. I was looking for someone to join me and Jennie Ann willingly accepted. Of course, this also meant we'd have to concoct a story to tell her mother about why she was spending the night with me and what we were planning to do with that evening. When I picked Jennie Ann from her house that evening, we told her mother, what we thought was a great fib about the evening. We were going to The Milestone. My boyfriend's band was playing there. We'd be back home by midnight. I said goodbye to Jennie Ann's mother.

By the time we arrived back at my house, my mother greeted us on the porch. She told us, "You've been busted. Jennie Ann's mom is on her way her to pick her up."

And that is how it all began.

Seventeen years later, we are still best friends. While I thought about crafting a blog that traversed through our memories...I decided instead (damn, graduate school responsibilities!) to post some pictures from those first few years. Though I did spend most of today thinking about our friendship. And I've realized that it is rather rare to have someone in your life for this many years- as a constant. Through the ups and downs, the miles that have separated us, the misunderstandings and tears, and the cackling laughter that most folks can barely fathom to hear...Jennie Ann has always been there.


















And so I give you this, a poem Jennie Ann wrote me when we were oh, so very young.

"If you were a mosquito bite, I would itch you (but not too hard),
If you were my socks, I would never change them,
If you were a cuss word, I would use it in every sentence,
If you were a movie I would buy it and watch it all the time,
If I were a sailor, I'd name my boat after you,
If you were in Phish, I'd buy the tape anyway,
If you were a drug, I'd establish a habit,
but since you're a human, I'm glad to say you're my best friend."

This must have been written around 1994. Pure poetry.


















Happy Anniversary, best friend. Thank you for being there through it all. And here is to many more...(Don't forget, we are celebrating Year 20 in Costa Rica, finally.)