"We don't have to."

Yesterday, I got to spend the day with Amy Ellen. People always ask me if it's hard to stay close friends with the first friend I ever had. I've known Amy since I was born. It's not hard at all. It's the easiest thing ever, actually.

We went out for a wonderful lunch outside, had a few drinks and went for a lovely walk. The first thing Amy said when we got back to my apartment was, "I'm putting my sweatpants on." One of the many reasons why I love her - she speaks my language.

Then she had to call her boss to check in. Her boss asked what she was up to tonight. Here's Amy's response: "I'm with my best and oldest friend Jen. What are we doing? Um... we're just kind of sitting here. I'm doing work and she's working on her resume." Then she laughed and said, "We haven't seen each other in 6 months and we're not even talking to each other." I started cracking up and said, "We don't have to."



There's nothing but comfort when you've known someone as long as I've known Amy. There are no secrets, there's no trying to impress each other. We've impressed each other enough already. Now we get to concentrate on enjoying each other and making each other laugh.

After we finished our work, we watched Horton Hears A Who (laughing out loud at all the same places), then watched the season finale of Real Housewives of New Jersey (acting mortified at all the same places), then Rescue Me (which neither of us understood, so I have to watch it again and report back to Amy.)

And then it was time for bed. We're grown-ups now (kinda) so a lot has changed since we were little girls. We both have our own beds when Amy comes to visit and we drink martinis now instead of juice, but I remember so many years ago when I would sleep over at Amy's parents' house on the pull-out couch in the basement. We would be up all night talking about boys and about which girls we couldn't stand and which girls we wish we were friends with. It seems like only yesterday that her dad was coming downstairs to yell at us to go to sleep, for crying out loud.

But most of all, I remember the laughter. We laughed so hard and for so long that we cried and our stomachs hurt. It was the laughter that usually got us in trouble back then, because it was always the loudest and too late at night.

So that's what I was thinking about last night at midnight when Amy was shouting at me from her bed in the other room, "I'm trying to think of a way to make your resume more creative!!!!! Maybe we could do it as a poem?!?!"

Then the laughing started.

In a world that changes by the minute, it's still nice to know that some things never will.



PS - Amy is STILL sad that Betsy got a trophy and she didn't. Last night we were trying to figure out why I was so happy without a trophy. My answer: "Who knows? My mother probably pumped me full of drugs before the recital."

And more laughter...