Happy Birthday, Kathy

In 1970 something, I had a girl in my kindergarten class named Kathy. She remembers me being the first kid to know the alphabet (thanks Sesame Street!).

We spent the next 9 years in school together but in 1979 we got to be very good friends (and truth be told- a force to be reckoned with). I was the first one she reached out to when John Lennon was shot, crazy Beatle fan that she was. We sang on the swings in Silver Beach, spent time at the beach off Calhoun, I got my first tan at her granny’s house by the lake, and Billy Joel singing “Still Rock and Roll” is just one of the songs that brings me back to that time.

Kathy saved me from a bully in High School. We were not in the same school, and this nightmare got completely out of control before I finally told her what was going on. Word was sent to the girl to keep her hands off of me and the nightmare stopped. High School became bearable. I will always be grateful.

We had all kinds of adventures, dated boys, had children and years raced by. 

We saw each other, though not every day.

I moved to Ohio, she moved to Upstate New York. Facebook helped bridge the distance.

35 years later (OUCH!), I can still pick up the phone, call her and laugh over stuff that is still hilarious decades later.  Or drop in unexpected because I am in a neighboring state and we are just like children again. Slumber party, anyone?

Time and distance are no match for friendships like this- she is my family.

Wishing you the best today and every day.

Happy Birthday!