My BFF

So it’s summertime, and the living is easy. (That would make a great song lyric.) The nice thing about summertime is that it gives you the opportunity to get away from it all and reconnect with family and friends. In the sweet summertime, you can while away the hours, conferring with the flowers, consulting with the rain. (If I only had a brain, I’d turn that into a catchy tune.)

Getting away from it all is just what I’ve been doing lately in a cabin in rural North Carolina, which is about as friendly a place as you’ll find on this earth. In North Carolina, even the insects seem friendly, at least until they bite you.

I had the privilege of going on vacation with my friend Kathy and her family. Kathy and I have been pals since our children were babies. In modern parlance, we are BFFs (best friends forever, for those of you who still speak actual English). When we get together, Kathy and I – being BFFs who know pretty much everything there is to know about each other – can dispense with the usual pleasantries and get right down to talking about what truly matters.

“I absolutely hate my thighs,” Kathy said glumly as soon as we were ensconced in a couple of rocking chairs on the front porch. “They’ve fallen down past my knees. And speaking of my knees, I noticed on the drive up here that they’ve gotten very wrinkly. How did that happen?”

I nodded gravely, and we spent another half hour lamenting the increasing force of gravity on our various body parts. Then we moved on to lesser matters like how quickly our children have grown up and how scary a place the world is getting to be. Before we got too depressed, I suggested we go for a walk in the woods, and we had a great time conferring with Mother Nature, who didn’t even seem to notice that we’re all getting older.

On the walk, Kathy made a heartwarming discovery.

“Hey,” she said excitedly, holding out her arms for me to see. “I’ve found something I still like about my body. My wrists still look great! Notice how young and skinny my wrists are!” And lo and behold, I noticed that my own wrists still look pretty darn attractive as well.

That night, we got even closer to Mama Earth when she brought a raging thunderstorm our way, complete with a power outage and warnings of a nearby tornado. We found ourselves taking shelter in the basement of some friendly neighbors. As we sat there in the flickering candlelight, listening to the storm above us and clutching our loved ones close, Kathy suddenly nudged me and pointed first at her bare legs and then at mine.

“Hey,” she said. “Down here in the dark, our thighs look really good.”

That’s what is so wonderful about a good BFF. She’ll always help you look on the bright side. That’s why – when even our wrists no longer look young – I’ll still want to share a front porch with my friend Kathy.

~ Jackie Papandrew ~
Copyright © 2010
All Rights Reserved

Jackie Papandrew is an award-winning writer, syndicated humor columnist, coffee addict and mom to a motley crew of children and pets who provide a steady stream of column ideas and dirt. She's also wife to a very patient man who had no idea, years ago when he still had time to escape, what he was getting himself into. Visit her website at:  JackiePapandrew.com

[ by Jackie Papandrew Copyright © 2010, (me@jackiepapandrew.com) -- submitted by: Jackie Papandrew ]