I had an incredible opportunity to spend some time with one of my dearest friends recently.  Pepper Jo (P.J.) has been my friend since we were in 9th grade in junior high in Warner Robins, Georgia.  It was my first day of public school, having spent the first eight years of school at Sacred Heart Catholic School, and it was her first day of school in Warner Robins, having just moved there from the Azores.  I was so incredibly nervous but I recall walking in carrying my flute case (for some random reason I thought I would join the marching band) and there she sat all alone with her flute case on her desk!  I walked up, and asked if I could sit next to her.  I am certain in that moment neither of us could have imagined that 25 years later we would be sharing that story with friends on a beach in Santa Rosa Florida.

It’s hard to summarize all that P.J. means and represents to me.  I think the very first thing is that she taught me how to have fun – and what an incredible gift that is!  P.J.’s spirit is giving and happy and full of love and it is so contagious.  I am certain that my experience through high school would not have been nearly as wonderful had we not been best friends.  To this day she continues to be a light to her friends and family and it is an honor and a privilege to witness that.

The beach trip earlier this month (June, 2012) was a rare chance to sit inside her world and meet the women she spends her time with as an adult.  I loved all her friends and it made me a bit sad that we don’t live closer so that I could get to know them all better.

I have been blessed beyond measure with the women who have entered my life through the years but I am so glad that P.J. remains in my life as a constant and true friend.  There is something to be said (as I posted on Facebook) for the friends who have known you since before you started having your hair colored or your eyebrows waxed.  Those friends know your siblings and your parents and what the house you grew up in looks like.  They are often the ones you first broke the law with (you know, like not wearing a seatbelt) and they were there when your heart was broken that first time.

I hope to have many more adult adventures with P.J. and the crew from high school, but boy am I grateful for the ones we had together as girls!