Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Happy Birthday Jen!


The first time Jen invited me to her house 13 years ago, it was for a Pampered Chef / volleyball party. I went with the intention of playing volleyball, which I did, but when it came time to talk kitchen tools I found myself ‘all ears‘. Of course, if you’ve ever been to one of these parties, you know that they make the food right in front of you and then you get to eat it! What a great party! A friendship was born that day and our shared appreciation of food has grown right along with our friendship.

We took a Tae Kwon Do class together once. Just fifty dollars a month and you could attend as many as four classes a week – what a deal, right? Yeah, we were the only adults in the class and the “Master” let her 13 year-old black belt student with a goofball attitude run the class. He was a clown on a power trip as he barked orders at us like we were his own personal concubines. When it was time to “spar” with us, he used to run around in circles like a girl because he was too afraid to “fight” us head on – black belt, eh?

One day as I drove up for class, everything inside of me was screaming, “I don’t want to go today!” It seemed that once we had received our yellow belts, the learning suddenly stopped, but the wackiness of the class raged on. Before I knew it, I had driven my car across the street and had parked it in an empty lot, waiting for Jen to show up. When she did, I honked my horn to get her attention and waved her over. We both agreed that going to Happy Hour for wings sounded like more fun, so off we went. After a few “classes” like that, Barry spoke up as the voice of reason and said, “If you don’t want to go anymore, then stop paying and stop going.” So we did.

Then it was Broadway shows, concerts, yoga, fake knitting, beading, biking, ocean vacations, you name it. Whenever I had something I wanted to do, she was always on board. And if I didn’t think of it first – and I usually didn’t – Jen was always planning something fun and exciting and new to do.

Jen is a YES girl. She says Yes! to life every day. She lives life with enthusiasm and zest. She loves to have fun, she wants others to have fun, and when she’s around, others DO have fun!

She is a super freak when it comes to comedy. She can watch The Office, The Jerk, and anything Will Ferrell stars in, 97 times and laugh just as hard every time. She can repeat lines from a comedy she has seen just once and I think that’s because comedy just sticks to her bones naturally.

She regularly invites me to dinner at their house by gushing over the fabulous dessert she is making because she thinks that will get me there. That may say more about me than it does about her, but you get the idea...

She would do anything for anybody. Between her and Barry, they are extremely generous with their time and talents when someone is in need.

She is my sanity checker. When I vent to her about my trials of the day, she is always on my side, rooting me on and taking my side no matter what. Having a friend like Jen support you when life is getting you down is what I’m sure God had in mind when he created friendship.

As a mother, she is loving and creative and childlike. Her children always want to be with her because she makes life fun. She IS a fabulous mother!

I am very blessed to have Jen as my friend and I thank God on a regular basis for sending her into my life. Good, strong, and true friendships are rare and priceless and some people never experience them. I consider myself to be a lucky girl!

Did I mention she can cook?


Happy BirthMonth Jen!

Love,
Sheri



Coming Tomorrow... Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake Just For Jen!!! (Award-winning) and then NO more sweets for awhile...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awe that was so sweet Sheri!! I couldn't agree with you more on that one! Happy Birthday Jen...you are one amazing friend!

Charlene said...

What a blessing to have a friend like that!

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