I'm stepping from the swirl of extreme emotions that have marked this week to think of my friend Leslie. Today is her 50th birthday and I hope she's having a wonderful day, despite the deluge of sadness flooding both the headlines and our friends' Facebook pages lately.
I'm sure she is. She is off with Clive, celebrating in style in California...or somewhere...my memory has reached over-capacity levels again and I'm having a tough time with those little details. Keeping track of Leslie's whereabouts on any given day is a little like playing "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"
But there's no way I can forget Leslie's birthday...or the past thirty or so years that she has been a constant in my life. Other friends drifted in and out and back in again, but Leslie is one who has stayed within talking distance, despite leading very different lives. On those long ago nights when I was reading to my babies or making rounds through the chemical plant, she was zipping around downtown Houston on inline skates. She is a career woman...intense, organized, knowledgable, always on the move. She travels constantly. She volunteers. She's crazy about professional team sports, has a great collection of autographed memorabilia, and makes my head spin spouting teams and statistics. Just recently she went to a car racing class! Still, we made time for each other and I was so glad when she followed Darla and I to the Austin area.
The most important things in her life are her friends and her family. She never lets too much time pass without calling to check on me, see how things are going, maybe invite us to a baseball game or to dinner, and hers is usually the first phone call I receive on my birthday every year. For MY 50th birthday party, she put together little goody bags of bottled water, flower seeds, candy, and confetti. It was her persuasive logic that finally convinced me to get on Facebook, knowing I share her desire to reach out and re-light all of those friendship candles. I'm so grateful ours has never gone out - I can't wait to see her in person to tell her so.
Happy, happy birthday, beautiful Leslie! Hurry home so I can celebrate you with you!
Near the beginning at the 5 year reunion, 1982...Denise, Leslie and Tom...
A get-together in Pasadena sometime in the 90's...Leslie styling on the left in her boots...
With Clive at my birthday party in April...
