Happy Birthday Bandana!

Today would have been my best friend’s 39th birthday. Anna Marie passed away when she was twenty years old. That was seventeen and a half years ago. I think of her mom and dad today. What a reflective day I am sure it will be for them…and Mother’s Day and Father’s Day just around the corner as well. She was their only child. She was just an awesome person. She made me a better person. I miss her all the time even though it has been a long time. I loved her because:

*She always focused on my positive aspects and never called me on the negatives
*She was extraordinarily and deviously creative
*She wrote better poetry than me, but always applauded mine…and made me write consistently
*She always made me laugh at the weirdest stuff that no one else would find funny except for us
*She made me think…hard
*She helped me become less materialistic
*She made me accountable for my spiritual life
*She brought out my inner hippie
*She was similar enough to me to understand where I was coming from, and dissimilar to me enough to make me stretch
*She was the freest spirit that I have ever met
*She made me read The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, So Long and Thanks for All the Fish AND The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I made her read Kurt Vonnegut…and she liked it immensely.
*She gave me a less selfish perspective on life

This list does not even scratch the surface of why she was so wonderful. This is just my weak attempt to describe what a great person she was. I look forward to seeing her one day, and we will laugh and laugh again at things that no one else finds funny and at inappropriate times I am sure! Happy Birthday Bandana!