Spesties Forever!!

Last Friday was my little miracle babies 8^th birthday.  I was able to go eat lunch with them in the school cafeteria.  They each got to choose one person to eat with at a special table.  Ella picked one of her buddies that she has had class with the last couple of years.  Elliott quickly informed me that he and Ella were “spesties.”  That would be special best friends.  I watched them giggle and tell jokes through all lunch.  It was so sweet.  Spesties Forever.

This weekend I got to enjoy time with my bestie, BFF, or what I now refer to as my spestie.  She flew all the way from New York just to spend the weekend with little ole me.  Jodi and I have been friends since we met at University of Tennessee in the late 90s.  We were both in the same sorority and became fast friends.  Little did we know then what a special friendship that God had blessed us with.  Sure we had the typical college crazy nights.  We hit band parties.  We went to see Vanilla Ice on the Strip.  (This was after he was cool and before he was into DIY)  And we enjoyed the hell out of every one of our friends' weddings together.

It wasn’t until we hit the next phase in our life that we really saw what our friendship was made of.  You know the phase….when instead of getting a wedding announcement every week, you start getting pregnancy announcements.  When I was diagnosed as being infertile, every one of those announcements was like salt in a deep, painful wound.  Jodi was always there for me.  She didn’t throw trite words at me.  She just listened to me cry.  She agreed that it sucked and wasn’t fair.  Most importantly, she prayed for me.

This weekend we pretty much chilled just the two of us with my kids.  It was a sweet time to relax and catch up.  I was thrilled that she got a chance to get to know my little miracles that she helped pray into this world.  And I loved that my kids got to know a friend that I love so much.  They got to see an example of what true friendship is all about.  We are there for each other.  We care about each other.  We make staying connected a priority. 

Today we had the afternoon to ourselves so we went to see the latest Nicholas Sparks movie “Best of Me.”  The fact that I sat through that movie shows how much I love Jodi.  I have a strict “No Crying” rule for my entertainment.  Give me action.  Give me a comedy.  I want no part of anything that is going to make me cry.  In fact if I have seen a movie that makes me cry, I will either never watch it again or I will skip the sad part all together.  I can’t tell you how many times I have watched the first VHS tape of “Titantic.”  I am perfectly happy with Jack and Rose finding love and the ship never hits that iceberg.   At one point in the movie today, I looked over at Jodi with tears falling down my cheeks and snot running out my nose and said, “This is just miserable!!”  She laughed and said, “Oh the bad part hasn’t even happened yet!”  What the hell!!??  Why do people voluntarily do this to themselves??!!!

I find it incredibly ironic that the first thing anyone says when they read part of my book is that they cried.  Me – the ultimate Anti Crier – has written a book that makes people cry.  I always apologize and am almost always assured they are good tears.  I hate that people cry but infertility is sad.  It is heartbreaking for people who are going through it.  And unfortunately because no one talks about it, infertility is also quite misunderstood.  My hope, my prayer for my book is that it not only helps those who are struggling with infertility, but that can give a glimpse of understanding to those who are not.  Perhaps through some tears there can be healing or a glimpse into someone else’s pain.

And for the record….I so called the ending of the movie.