Oh, Jess

Oh, Jess.

 

You make me laugh.

 

You're crazy... but you already knew that, huh?

 

Jessica, I've known you for over half my life, which just made us sound old, but we're not old...

 

Right?

 

Not that the treadmill will ever know because you refuse to tell the treadmill your age.

 

And you know what my favorite thing about you is?

 

You're consistent.

 

It's one of the few absolute deal-breakers for me when it comes to my friendships,

 

and you've always been the same.

 

Not one of those loose cannons that you never know what to expect from,

 

The ones who you never know what they're thinking about,

 

And have to wonder whether your next encounter will be fun or drama-filled.

 

No,

 

You're always the same.

 

I value consistency in a world of what-ifs. 

 

I value you.

 

We must have met on some soccer field, and I must have thought you were insane and opinionated and loud and so talented and so fun to camp with on our geology trips.

 

We always insisted on sharing our snacks and space and sleeping arrangements and we always loved outdoors the same.

 

And to this day you are just those things and you laugh the same and you love the same and you make time for your girlfriends and yourself and your amazing kids and I just dig that about you.

 

My favorite memories would be our days in Yosemite or camping somewhere remote or among our most recent years at our pajama-jams or annual Thanksgiving gatherings.  It's hearing you before I see you, your kids bouncing around my house, making themselves at home which always delights me.

 

It's the you that curls up on my couch with a glass of wine, always making sure my glass is full, too.  And you listen just as much as you chatter which is a quality I am always wanting for myself.  You're the one that cleans up my house better than it was when you arrived and the one who will wander off to discover where party music is coming from down the street...

 

(and stay gone for a solid hour leaving me to wonder if I should call 911)

 

It's the you that drinks a little too much when it's right but wakes up before everyone else with the same dose of energy from the night before, already washing my dishes as I stumble from a  sleepy stupor into the kitchen.

 

You're the devil's advocate, the one who can balance and juggle and be on time and be dependable.

 

If you say you'll be there, I know you will.

 

You're the one that handles a lot and the one I live vicariously through.

 

You're one of a few I cannot live without, and one I know wouldn't live without me, which makes me deliriously happy.

 

Let's be friends forever.... mmmkay?