Happy Birthday to the only other person in the world who's seen When Harry Met Sally as many times as me

Laura and I have been friends since grade 9 - part of that gang of kids that I told you about who used to get together and play instruments, take road trips (sometimes called "band trips"), watch movies over and over again, and thought we were badass, but really weren't.

Today is Laura's 28th birthday. Being the hard worker she is, it's entirely possible that she's spending the day studying for another exam. She works full-time AND is studying to get her MBA with her hubby, Jay. I really hope the two of them are taking the evening off tonight!

(Laura is one of those people who works extremely hard but always knows how to have a good time (and not in the "for a good time, call ______ " kind of way). )

Laura & I in grade 10, hamming it up before attending our first Semi-formal dance

As I mentioned, we've traveled all over the place together. In grade 10, we were part of a small group of students who were chosen to be members of both the junior and senior concert bands at our high school. This meant a trip to Philadelphia with the junior concert band at the end of April, then another trip with the senior concert band to Calgary for Musicfest Canada (an amazing trip and competition that I've mentioned in previous posts). While we were in Calgary, we met up with an old family friend of hers and managed to cram ourselves into the Tiniest Picture Booth Ever to capture the moment:

As we've grown up (or grown bigger anyway), we've been through hookups, breakups, graduations, weddings, houses being bought, and babies being born. It's so great to be able to share experiences like that with somebody I've known since I was 13 years old.

Laura with Kim & Steve's little darling, Gordie. (Just before he realized that
Mommy wasn't holding him and started bawling)

Laura,

I can't help but remember all of the great birthdays we've spent together over the years, and hope we'll go back to East Side Marios again sometime to eat that ridiculously decadent chocolate cake and have them embarass you with their singing.

We've been through a lot in the past 15 years (can you believe it's been THAT LONG?!),and I'm so glad that we're still friends after all of the ups and downs... I will never watch When Harry Met Sally without thinking of you, or hear anything by Moxy Fruvous or the BareNaked Ladies without remembering all of the times we sang their songs at the top of our lungs (in crazy places like Philly's town square). We survived high school drama, a very nasty watermelon bomb, several years of university, and living in different cities.

I'm so glad you're going to be one of my bridesmaids because it means we'll get to hang out more often. It truly wouldn't be right getting married without you being a part of things...

I hope you have a truly fabulous birthday (that doesn't involve studying anything other than a huge glass of wine!)

Love ya lots,
Mel

(A picture of Laura & her hubby on their honeymoon that I stole from her Facebook album. I
had no choice, since the last time we got together we drank a lot of champagne and the pictures are
all fuzzy for some reason.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!