My Best Bud Aimee

Nineteen years ago this month I met my longest and dearest friend Aimee. We crossed paths on our very first day of college. She had just moved into a room one door down and across from mine. She remembers seeing me for the first time and whispering to her dad..."Boy she looks scared." He suggested that she introduce herself.
That night at the college's very reverent convocation welcoming the freshman class, Aimee sat next to me. She wore a cow shirt and matching hair bow (that's a whole different story), sighed every two minutes and asked me frequently (in a voice that I will inaccurately describe as a whisper) when the thing was going to be over. I ignored her and tried to move my wooden chair closer to the silent person sitting on the other side of me, but there was something about her. That night while most of the rest of our freshman hall headed to the bar, Aimee stayed behind with me and two of the other girl's on our hall playing Trivial Pursuit.
That was the beginning of our friendship.
We soon discovered that our homes were only 20 miles apart, but at the time that is where the similarities ended. Aimee was irreverent and a free spirit. Through the years she challenged me to see things through different perspectives.
It has taken quite a few years for me to understand the enormous impact our friendship has had on my entire life.
Aimee has single handedly changed my definition of friendship. In my teen years I had volatile relationships with my friends and felt like I should be grateful that people were actually willing to hang out with me. I had some self-esteem issues, and my friends played on those insecurities. At times it felt like I was a loser in a cruel game. But Aimee never made me feel that way. She made me realize that the ease of our conversation and our complete trust in each other was what the true definition of friendship was. She never made me prove myself to her or earn the right to be part of her life. And as I started the metamorphosis into the strong, independent woman I am today, Aimee applauded and encouraged the journey. She never tried to hold me to my past, she allowed me to break free and grow. And truth is, she still allows me to grow because she is growing herself.
Aimee opened my eyes to some of my greatest passions...travel, the arts and fine dining. She allowed me to experience these things with the wide-eyed wonder of a child without ever making me feel like a lesser person. Whether it was tasting calamari, seeing my first show on Broadway or walking out on the beach in Aruba, each of these experiences were made better because she was there and I know the same will hold true when we board that plane to Ethiopia to meet my daughter.
Aimee has been the foundation in my adoption support system. She has offered an ear when I needed it, tons of advice and has given a voice to some of my innermost thoughts when my heart would not let me speak.
And while this post has been kind of sappy, what I love most about our friendship, is our ability to laugh. Sometimes when we are together I laugh until I can't breathe, tears stream down my face and well, you know the rest.
Aimee's advice is often peppered with sarcasm, wit and experience. Just last night I explained that I needed to delve into my travel drawer to see if I had a sample of shampoo because I had forgot to add that item to my shopping list. She then spoke with the voice of experience, "Just don't use dog shampoo. I tried it once and the results are not pretty"
And because I want to be just as good of a friend to her as she has been to me...I will stop this post there.