F is for ...

FRIENDS

Remember your early teenage years? The ones during which you pledged eternal friendship to four or five really close friends and you could not imagine ever not being friends with them? Remember Ann (or is it Ann with an 'e'?) and Diana? "Bosom friends".

As we get older, I think it becomes harder and harder to find those special individuals that we would do anything for. The ones we can say anything to. The ones we can call on when we need them the most. The ones we trust with our children (and our husbands). The ones who could walk into your house without knocking, find you in your tattered pyjamas cleaning goodness-knows-what off of the floor under the kitchen table and help themselves to a cup of coffee leaving you to think only, "I'm SO glad you stopped by and saved me from myself this morning!"

When we had our children in Vancouver, thanks to a great baby group, I made some super friends. Some went back to work, some introduced me to other wonderful friends, some we met on random rock-picking walks. It took a bit of work, but 4 and a bit years later, I could safely say that I had some fantastic friends.

And then we moved.

No university classes to meet people at. No baby groups (whew!) to have to attend. Half the kids in Jordan's class took the bus and I never met their parents. How on earth was I to make friends?? That was a rough first year. Gradually, I met people, but I still felt like something was missing. Bosom friends.

I made connections, to be sure. And then one fall day, a bunch of us were standing around at the school and were, probably, all fed up with mothering. Someone tossed out a, "Hey, we should all go away for the weekend sometime soon...."

And we did.

And it was awesome.

And we keep doing it.

And I have 4 bosom friends.

Whether we show our bosoms or not ;)

Of course, I have great friendships that have endured 25+ years.

Ones left from university.

Ones that I cherish from our time on the coast.

And some new faces, too.

Love you all!

E is for...

EIGHT

Eeeeek...she's eight. Really. Three days later and I still find it hard to believe. I think that the kicker for me is that I really remember being eight. Going to summer camp, moving cities and schools, my grade 4 teacher, my grade 4 art project that I loathed (art was my very very least favourite subject in school), my friends and so many other things.

Never having fallen in love with Nancy Drew, I remember being really into Trixie Belden. Not Jordan - she's completely taken with Miss Drew and all of her fantastic adventures. Not having read the series at all, I wondered if it was appropriate for someone who was only seven. I was told that Nancy was old enough to drive, so she must be a teenager. She also has a boyfriend, Ned, that she goes to dances and stuff with. Innocuous enough, I suppose. Needless to say, the party theme this year was...any guesses? None other than Carolyn Keene's loveable heroine.

The invitations were done as a boot print on argyle paper, written in code.

The cake was just cupcakes decorated with and arranged in the shape of a question mark.

The guests numbered only 3, but they all received an argyle headband and a N.D. book.

Dinner was served on our good dishes, with tablecloth and candles...and argyle napkins (bien sur!)

The difficult task was customizing a "real mystery" for the little sleuths to solve. I decided that "The Case of the Missing Sister" would satisfy Jordan's request for a puzzle and her need ot have Maya out of the way for a bit. Our dear neighbours agreed to feed Maya dinner while Jordan and her friends tried to solve the mystery. I wrote clues out and had them around the house, with the final clue being "It just doesn't compute". They found their clue on the computer in the form of a video message from Maya.

Her hint had them looking on the back of the clues they had collected where the letters written in lemon juice spelled out "IT'S FRANK". I had to candle the clues for them to get the invisible ink to show up, as a house fire was not in my plans. After the missing sister had returned, we went to the basement to play Clue (possibly the longest game ever). One slept over and the other two headed home. Good times.

At any rate, the birthday festivities have drawn to a close with a homemade sushi dinner and "champagne" to celebrate Jordan's turning 8 on the 8th. Maya instisted that it was a "propane birthday", but we don't drink that in this house. Far too cute. Here comes Christmas!!