happy birthday to leighdle

Today is my best friend’s birthday.

She is my oldest and dearest friend. This is a little tribute to her because I’m so thankful for her.

We were friends in high school, though she was in my brothers’ grade. She used to come over for Calculus study groups… somehow after graduation we started hanging out more? I can’t really remember how it began, but I started visiting her down in Sacramento when she attended college… and she visited me at BYU many times. She’s been around for all my important things… girls nights, graduations, weddings, baby blessings, birthdays.

She answers the phone in the night if I need her. She sends my kids care packages. She drives up to Redding for parties and events, just for a few days. She watches my kids outside the temple so we can go in for weddings. She always remembers my birthday. We’ve laughed ourselves silly way too late into the night. We are not food buddies but we tend to like the same treats. We both like to clean, and we both like to wear soft jammies. She is like family to me. There is always room at my house for her.

We like to make up middle names. Leigh Ellen Sue LaFoo Renard, the first.

Here are some glorious pictures through the years… some not so good. (Seriously, my hair?) And I know for every one of these, Leigh has ten more ‘priceless’ ones from our early years. Also you may notice a mexican in many pictures.. that’s mexi, I met her through Leigh and we have the same birthday. Naturally we’ve become good friends as well.

I really hope everyone has a friend like Leigh.