Happy Birthday, BFF!

What is a BFF? It's Best Friend Forever, I learned. And today one of mine is celebrating a birthday! She'll remain unidentified on this post, but she knows who she is. I gave her this card...

In some form of context, the above describes us. We call ourselves "The Two Grandmas." With both of us having experience in theater, we discuss the script of each adventure as we go along. Not really. But maybe.

​We wonder about our paths crossing and the similarities. Both husbands Vietnam veterans, both buried at Willamette National Cemetery in Portland (within shouting distance of each other! We were surprised to learn that.) 

​We share stories of living with these guys: the depth of love and friendship, the unique circumstances they present that required us to develop creative navigation. We burst out in laughter at the remarks our guys made to us- unique to combat veterans. 

​As time passes we find more fun things to get into that we don't want our grown children to know. A fear of many women our age is that if we have too much fun, or laugh too hard, or create some kind of family disturbance which is all in merriment, that we'll be shut up in a nursing home. "Mom on a shelf" I call it. 

​We don't do anything illegal, but since we don't fit in a box of adult children's expectations, we travel down the road and agree, "Our kids don't need to know this..."

​Or we take photos of each other that don't reveal our location. This is to assure our kids "I'm not alone," and yet not disclose our fun places.

​We laugh. Oh, we laugh. Here we are with over 130 years experience of life and our kids don't ask us for advice. We can't say anything to our daughters-in-law. Bottled wisdom stored in the basement of our hearts, and we say, "Oh, well." 

And find more adventures to enjoy, because we're healthy, we have few responsibilities in this time of our lives, and there's more living to live.

​When you have a friend like that, it is surely a gift!

​So Happy Birthday, BFF! Hey, I have an idea...