Every Day Life: How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways...

By Beth M

As Lara has mentioned in her most recent article, we don't get to see each other a lot. We live 101 miles apart and both have jobs and families and lives away from each other. This is why we like to make the most of the time we can spend together, from scheming how to best take over the world to vegging out watching Lord of the Rings commentaries. Lara probably knows me better than anyone, save my mother, and even then it's pretty close. We've been friends since the 6th grade, which was 20 years ago now. WOW! That makes us sound so old! But, if recent history is anything to go on, Lara and I will never "be old" in the traditional sense of the word. We will continue to have as much fun as humanly possible as the years go by. We will continue to, in the words of my 14 year old daughter, "have too much fun."

For my next article, I've decided to take a more serious note and tell you all some of the things I love best about Lara. Now, some of them might be funny, or confusing to you, but they mean something to us. And this is in no way a comprehensive list. That would take too many pages and I'm pretty sure my fingers would fall off from typing long before I ever got to the end. Also, Ginny probably wouldn't want an article THAT long on the blog! We all need a friend like Lara in our lives, so here we are, 25 things I love about Lara:

1. Gee, the first one is always the hardest! I love her humor, morbid as it may be at times, it is quite similar to my own. We find ourselves thinking or saying the same things at the same time quite often. Sometimes we don't even need to speak, we just crack up because we know what the other was thinking, or about to say.

2. I love how she is so NICE, and POLITE, even when the waitress is being a total idiot and ignoring us. (And I'm sorry for getting mad when you do that!)

3. I love our traditions. (Lone Star and Barnes and Noble, BWW and Barnes and Noble)
(Can't wait til Friday, I'm having some serious BWW cravings up here, and I want to see you!)

4. I love how I can be completely myself with her, no hiding anything, and she still loves me.

5. I love how, no matter how crappy I'm feeling, a phone call to her will make everything all better.

6. I love how much she hates my ex on my behalf.

7. I love her crazy ideas. And I love DOING those ideas.

8. I love how she can remember EVERYTHING!!!

9. I love our late night conversations about nothing, and everything.

10. I love her hair, and how it's evolved over the years.

11. I love sitting next to her in church and when something is said or is on the screen that no one else would see the connection, all I have to do is look at her and we both lose it.

12. I loved watching her get her tattoo!

13. I love how she inspires me, both in my writing and personally.

14. I love our inside jokes. "You hesitated!"

15. Gym teachers are chewy, I love that I won that round!

16. I loved camp with her, and all the experiences camp brought.

17. I love her death sleep.

18. I love that I have "my own room" at her place now.

19. I love how close she is with her parents, and how they treat me when I'm there.

20. I love how I could send her a text right now that says "15 days" and without looking at a calendar, she'd know I was talking about the Harry Potter movie release.

21. I love how we crush on old Brits together, and introduce each other to new old Brits.

22. I love how, no matter what happens, how old we get or how far apart, we will always make time for our friendship.

23. I love that she feels no man will ever be good enough for me (I feel the same way about her)

24. I love how she makes fun of me, for sneaking a hit on my nasal spray in restaurants, for being a bit tipsy, for the random comments I come out with, for, well, you get the picture.

25. Mostly, I just love Lara. More than a friend, like a sister that I get along with 99% of the time (we have had little tiffs, I think, ask her, her memory is better than mine). She makes my life more fun, she's stuck with me through a lot, when lots of other "friends" tucked tail and ran. I love the time we get to spend together and always look forward to the next time and hate it when it's weeks, or even months, between visits. She is a one-of-a-kind friend and I wish everyone, except maybe my ex, could have a friend like her. She makes the world a better place.

Beth is a gorgeous, size 6 blonde married happily these 20 years to Sean Bean, dreamy British actor. Their perfect children attend a boarding school in Scotland that they take the scarlet train out of King's Cross Station to each term. In her spare time, Beth likes to perform interpretive dance in local parks and raise awareness for S.P.E.W. Sean and Beth also own a German Shepherd named Chauncy who likes to nap. Beth M. and Lara were the brains behind our fun series on the Year of the Birthday. We are thankful they have decided to continue the fun with the Bucket List and Every Day Life.