Happy Birthday, Maureen

Today is Maureen's birthday. If you know me or have read this blog, you know that Maureen is my best friend. We have known each other since we were 24. We are older than that now and she will be older than me until October 5. I am not going to tell you everything about Maureen and why we are friends, but I will give you a random list of things that are true.

1.  We know all the same songs. This was one of the first things that bound us together. In fact, we made a challenge game of it. Someone would give us a word or subject and we would sing the first song that came into our head. It was always the same song.

2.  We each think the other is hilarious. She gets all my jokes and I get hers.

3.  Maureen has been with me through almost every major tragedy in my life and somewhere, in the midst of sorrow, exhaustion and agony, she makes me laugh. It may be the laughter heard from insane residents of a mental institutition, but it is laughter nonetheless.

4.  Maureen has a great spirit of adventure and is an intrepid traveler. She just returned from three weeks in Cambodia, where for the first two weeks she participated workshops for college students studying science using a curriculum she had helped to write. Then she set out on her own to visit Angor Wat and the other ancient temples of Cambodia. For our 50th birthday we went to Iceland, saw volcanos and geyers and walked on glaciers. Did I say we went in December? Cold and dark but a great adventure. This photo shows Maureen swimming in the Blue Lagoon, one of Iceland's most incredible natural wonders.

5.  I can't imagine my life without her; she has become my sister. Thank you, Donna, the mutual friend who introduced us because, "y'all are so much alike I know you'll be friends." She was right. 

Stonehenge, 1992

 Happy birthday, Maureen.