Best friends

Today seemed to be one of those days. Asher was up by 6:30, Aidan was up by 6:35. Asher went back to sleep after a bottle, Aidan went back to sleep because I would not let him watch cartoons. While they got a bit more rest I was in the backyard trying to rig our fence to keep the dog in the yard. Derek and I have a first name friendship with the local dogcatcher(animal control officer) because Mo likes to roam. I'm not sure where Mo goes but he has lost quite a bit of weight since the last visit from the dogcatcher because he has been confined. That is, until the past day or so, when I discovered him crawling through a hole that Aidan would have a difficult time getting through. Mo is a very determined dog. My fence rigging seemed to work, for the moment at least. This extra morning activity did put me behind schedule and Aidan was a few minutes late for school but he got there(despite Asher being a VERY unhappy baby this morning-getting teeth really stinks!)The rest of the morning was about the same, Asher still being unhappy. My car needed to be serviced so a friend met us at the dealership and we spent the morning running a few errands. There's nothing like having a crying baby in a store except having 2 crying babies in a store(my friend has a baby two months older than Asher who is also teething) But we survived.

After I got my car back, Asher and I went to a local hospital to sit with my best friend from childhood, Mandy. My mom and dad were best friends with her mom and dad. They've been best friends since high school and therefore, our families spent a lot of time together. I don't have many childhood memories that Mandy is not a part of. She now lives in another state and we don't see each other nearly enough but that distance will never change our friendship. And today I felt like a kid again hanging out with my best friend. Even if we were in a hospital waiting room. Mandy's dad had heart surgery today(a triple bypass that turned into a quadruple bypass). He is doing good but please say a prayer for him and his family. While he was in surgery, Asher entertained the people in the waiting room. He was a perfect angel and we were there over 5 hours. God works in mysterious ways.

On the drive home(with Asher sleeping peacefully in his car seat) I recalled all sorts of "Mandy and Pam memories". Trips to the beach, summers spent on the lake, me learning to drive a stick-shift in her dad's truck, my double seater go-kart we ran up a tree, our older brothers trying to bounce us off the trampoline, the Halloween Carnival that was so much fun because we actually got to walk around without supervision, the parties we had when our parents would go out of town, and so many more, 30+ years of memories. I have been so blessed in my life, and one of those blessings is my friendship with Mandy. She has always been there,at every good and bad turn of my life and I know that she will always be there for me, regardless of where and when those next turns may be. I hope that you have a Mandy in your life.