Last night I got to see my best friend Erin, who has been my BFF since we were three years old and our families moved in across the street from one another in 1980-81, in what was then a brand new neighborhood. I have no recollection of which family moved in first, but from the start, Erin and I were a match made in heaven. (By the One who rules heaven, I am quite sure.) We were born just ten days apart, we were the only girls in our family, and we had the same middle name. Also, our houses were like, 50 feet from each other. The childhood friendship of all childhood friendships was cemented quickly and easily.
There was one small hiccup in our friendship—though we were the same age, Erin started kindergarten the year before I did. Her birthday is August 26th and mine, September 5th. My mom wasn’t ready to start me yet, so Erin was on the young end of her classmates and I was on the older end of mine. Nevertheless, we managed to survive being a grade apart in school and stay close. We also went to the same church, so we still pretty much saw each other every day.
Fast forward many years, and Erin and I maintained our thicks-as-thieve friendship (though without the thievery). We survived the late 80s and early 90s together with the help of mall bangs, baby blue eyeshadow and mascara, and trips to the drug store for matching nail polish and lipstick. Church camp and youth group mission trips allowed us extra special times to deepen our bond. Even when she went to college and I was still in high school, we stayed tight.
After college, Erin got married and I was her maid of honor. A year later, I got married and she was my matron of honor. Our childhood friendship had morphed into an adult one. Soon we started having babies…Erin got started on that a bit quicker than I did, but when I had my first, she had her third, quite literally! Believe it or not, we both delivered our baby boys on February 27, 2004, in the same hospital, mine at 9:00 A.M. and hers at 9:15 A.M.! This was especially miraculous to me because I was due February 25th and Erin was due March 15th!
