Best Friend Day-June 8?

Those who know me shouldn't be surprised that days go by and I miss them; only to look back to say, "DOH! totally missed that one."  Supposedly June 8th is Best Friends Day, I have never heard of it before this year, but why not take the opportunity to testify about my true friend and our story.
We met before our Jr year of high school. We became friends but it wasn't till I joined the youth group at the Ft. Leavenworth post chapel that we got to really know each other. She showed me what it was like to be a Christian.  She introduced me to "Contemporary Christian Music". She invited me with her Christian friends to have fun without getting in trouble.  She introduced me to Christ.
The summer before our Senior year really set the friendship for life. We were both involved in a community theater production, "The Diary of Anne Frank"  Christine played Anne, I was behind the scenes as prop mistress.   All the people dear to us were a part of that production and we spent many hours together in a short amount of time.  Then as common in the life of a military "brat", she was moving away.  Because of the timing of the move, she ended up moving in with us for a couple of weeks.  What an awesome time it was, late summer nights talking after our respective dates,  I even let her talk sometimes, that is after she so kindly asked one night, "Can I talk now" ;-D  The day she left I just sat there and watched her car drive off and cried.
But our friendship really grew deeper after she had to move.  I really don't know how we stayed so close but we did.  My graduation gift was going to see her graduate at her new school. A year later I got to see her for a few brief hours in West Point, New York. She came to visit on my original wedding date, we had moved up the wedding due to Barry's military career plans. Again a few weeks of late night talks usually involving ice cream and lots of laughter. All along, I felt connected to her as I grew in my faith in Christ. With each milestone I experienced, I always was led me to share with her.  Thank goodness at some point unlimited long distance minutes came around and email.
Then the best news ever, in 1998 my husband was being transferred to Charleston SC and her husband was changing careers altogether and moving to Columbia SC. Yes, it was two hours apart but boy that was as close to being neighbors as we had been since 1985. She was there for me at a sudden shock to my family. I was at her house this time when Barry called and told me we were moving to Montana. A few months later, at our last stop in South Carolina, my car pulled out of her drive way and out of the rear view mirror, I watched as my best friend stood in the culdesac with her baby in her arms and cried.  There have been times when there is quite a span of time where we do not see each other. Just this past August, Barry surprised me and said, "what will it take to get Christine to Texas for a visit"?  He offered to pay to have her come knowing we needed it. I called her up and we made it happen. It was truly the pinnacle of 2010 for me.  The picture above was from that trip, actually as I was about to take her to the airport.  That wasn't nearly as a dramatic goodbye, as I had to drop her off at the curb.  But for a few days my drive to take Evan to work was quite lonely.
Over the years God has given us many blessings as friends. Between us we have ten children, wow, at one time it was three. I can be myself with her, she accepts me for who I am as I do for her.  We can cry and we can be silly. We can talk for hours.  She is my true blue friend. We rarely have had any bad issues but they are usually either talked out or just go away.  I trust her with my heart, I can tell her any thing and not fear any consequences.  I can ask her if I am being an idiot and she will tell me yes if needed.  She will pray for me and with me.  There are times we forget to return each others calls and there are times we blow it but cry or laugh and are done with it.  She is not the only friend  I have that we share the above characteristics. But she is the one that encompasses them all over the many years.  Our friendship is like wine, it gets better over time. Um, that was corny I know.
So though this is truly the first year I have ever heard of Best Friend Day and I am late on it, no surprise.  I will use this opportunity to share with the world who is she is to me.  Thank you, Christine.  Thank you God for her.  I am blessed to call you friend.