Luke loves Laura. And so do I.

image from generalhospital.tv

Oh, General Hospital. Luke and Laura Spencer. Luke loved Laura Laura loved Luke on and on ad infinitum for years on GH. Nevermind them and their long history of love, pain, intrigue, moronic son Lucky and foolish daughter Lulu. I am easily distracted on Friday mornings.  I have my own Laura, and this post is about her. When you're as close as we've been for going on 23 years, you can sense each other's moods, whether you live around the corner or two hours away from each other. Today I think Laura could use some laughs and good cheer, no bobs about it. Henceforth on August 5 I will celebrate the anniversary of Laura Being Awesome. In honor of this day, an ode to Laura.

A LITTLE ABOUT LAURA

Laura loves Air Supply, interpretive dance, fudge, wedding planning, participating in dance offs, Brothers Pizza, kids, and the Sound of Music. She is nice to old people. She believes in paying for beach tags and not making a fuss. She is not a good cook and should not ever make her own mixed drinks unless she wants to be poisoned. She can laugh at herself. She hates mustard and cheese, both of which I spilled all over her dashboard at 2 a.m. a trillion years ago. And which she had to clean off of my wedding dress because yes I served hotdogs at my wedding and yes I was messy enough to spill mustard on my wedding dress.

She was always the first to sleep at slumber parties and the first to wake up.  She had two Ford Escorts we named Menudo and Guido. When she fell asleep we used to take ridiculous photos all over them. She never knew about it until we gave her a book of them for her 21st birthday. Here she is on her 21st beside Guido.

I would hire her as my handywoman. She has done electrical work, tiling, painting, etc. in her gorgeous home in North Jerz that came standard with an elevator. She uses it for storage of cleaning supplies, but whenever we visit we like to take photos and act like assholes in it.

She is a CPA working in Manhattan. She can audit like nobody’s business and people too stupid to know she’ll always get to the bottom of something have been burned by underestimating her.  She works near Magnolia Bakery and never goes there.  How?

This crazy ass also ran the NYC Marathon a few years ago and is running it again this November. We follow her around the city boozing out of flasks, wearing t-shirts with her name on them, holding up signs with her face on them and hooting and hollering like loons. Win/win.

Her heart is the size of the moon. In addition to volunteering for Holiday Express throughout the year, she also volunteers at weekend camps for kids who have lost their parents to cancer. She travels two hours to attend Relay For Life events and walks beside me in the heat and rain to raise money for people with cancer. She lost her Dad to the disease and instead of spewing bitterness into the atmosphere she chooses to pump love into the universe. This is one of my favorite photos of Laura and Mike:

She is silly and ridiculous and not afraid of looking crazy. She makes the best costumes and wears them with glee. She is also very crafty and ingenious and to thank us for being a good support system turned jock straps into #1 Supporter Gifts.

I won’t try to describe what a huge part of my life she is. When I told her I started this blog yesterday, she offered to be my Victor. She is my family and one of the people I love most in the world, my favorite road trip partner, pretty much the only person I answer the phone for besides my parents and husband, and quite honestly one of the best people I know. If there is a rapture like some of the crazies think there will be, she is definitely moving on up. This photo is from May 21 this year, the latest Rapture Hoax.

Laura, I know you are reading this because I sent you the link. You are beautiful, strong, smart, funny, generous and wonderful. You bring a great richness to the lives of everyone lucky enough to be one of your people. Today, I hope you are celebrating that. I will be.  Happy anniversary of being awesome!

Looking through the eyes of loooooove,
SMD

p.s. I’ll still be sending you a card like I always do when I can feel your fret through the miles. Blogs don't replace Hallmark greetings.    

p.p.s. I wrote this and then went in the bathroom and cried because I am so proud of my friend for the courage and spirit she's shown in the past few years.