Ode to Bean.

Not beans. Bean. One of my best pals, from way back...whose birthday is Monday. (Bean, didn't get a card yet, so please accept this in lieu!)

The story of Bean. (as best as I recall)

I was a snotty kid from suburban Connecticut. My parents had an idea one day...to move from Fairfield County to upstate New York. Fun! Get out of the rat race! So they packed up the family, and in the summer of '83 or so, we moved to Fonda, New York, population: more cows than people. It was summer, there was a pony farm next door, and we had our own street and a bitchin' inground pool. But, alas, poor B was all alone, and the kids next door were all at least 4 years older than me. At ten, I would have been happy to play with them, but they were teenagers, and I was a nuisance no doubt. (Although in later years, one of them would become one of my other bestest friends.) So, I asked one of the neighbor girls where I could find another kid my age to play with...after all, school was a month away! They told me that there was a kid named Bean nearby. (*not her real name, but a nickname I use to this day.)

I think I rode my bike to Bean's house, introduced myself and asked her if she would like to be my friend. Bean, at that time, was a cool kid, with an older sister, and a dad who was the school's athletic director and football coach, and who undoubtedly did not need to make friends with wayward strangers. Perhaps I stalked her. Perhaps she liked my pool. In any event, Bean decided that I wasn't so bad and she became my first friend. We were in the same grade, and our birthdays were two days apart! How cool!

Over the years, Bean probably spent more time at my house than at her own, particulary in the summertime when she and my mom would compete for the best tan while I swam in the pool until my blond hair turned green. We had sleepovers, passed notes, played soccer and softball together, talked about boys and nearly everything that girls do.

We had big hair. It was the 80s. This was us in the earlier days, the days of perms and hairspray (but Bean's hair was natural curls):

We hung out a lot. We joined clubs, went to football games, faked our IDs to get into bars, shopped a lot, and then we graduated, and headed to college. HS Graduation 1991:

I headed to Chicago, and Bean to Oneonta, NY. Bean married Doug, her high school sweetheart, and they have three awesome kids. I still try to see her whenever she comes to town.

It's been (gasp) 25 years since Bean and I became friends. I love her like a sis. Happy Birthday Bean!