Cappy's Corner

As I get older I can't help thinking about people in my life that are important, my family, of course, is on the top of the list. I have a fantastic father, sisters and brother, children and grandchildren. My life is golden just to be able to say that, since now a days it seems the family unit is in a bit of a rough patch.

I also have a friend, who can read my thoughts and can finish my sentences as if she was my sister. I can honestly say that she is my most honored and oldest friend. We met in the early 1970's, when we both married into the same family. I don't know why but we were draw to each other, it was instantaneous. Both of us very different and yet we had so much in common.

We were very young, newly married women brought together in a family that did not really welcome the outsider. A Latin family that always made us feel as if we didn't belong, but we belonged to each other. At family gatherings we were always sitting together, somehow among the others looking in from the outside. After awhile it didn't much matter, it was a matter of routine to find each other at the family functions. We would laugh and have fun, in spite of the rest of the family. Our own little click, I guess.

A couple of years after being married, we moved into the same neighborhood. At home mom's was a great idea, but we needed some interaction with adults. We would get together on a regular basis, we would walk to each others home during the day, our kids playing together while we did crafts and created things. I knew right away that she was someone I could depend on.

One day, while my son was brushing his teeth, he decided to run around the house and fell, this impaled the toothbrush into his cheek. Instead of calling his father, I called my best friend and she got us to the hospital to have the toothbrush removed. When my husband and I had bad fights, she was the one I called to help out. Always with a cool head and a loving hand, she would make moments of terror turn into an everyday event.

Years went by and I was no longer involved in the family, due to divorce, but I still had my friend. I didn't think I had the right to call her my sister-in-law, but she didn't see it any other way. To this day I can't divorce that part of the family. The 70's, 80's, 90's and the new millennium passed and still my friend was there. The funny part is we did not have much time together, but our friendship never wavered. I can always call her out of the blue and talk endlessly. This friend is someone that I never had to lie to, never had bad feelings or as much as one fight between us.

Always looking to spend more time together, while telling each other about our hopes and dreams. We finally planned a trip together to Africa, which we bonded into one person, our thoughts seemed to mesh together. Everything we wanted to do was the same, and if it wasn't for her I probably would have been arrested for murder, killed by a lion or hippo. Those are stories for another time. We shared life altering experiences on that trip, which will forever keep us together.

Now, the effort to just spend an evening together is such a challenge, but when we do get together we sit and talk well into the night. I even made my spare bedroom hers, it is decorated to remind us of our trip to Africa. When I have over-night guests they all know that it is her room they are staying in.

This week we got an opportunity to get together for dinner, and as always our conversation flowed as if we had just talked yesterday. Again, finishing each others thoughts, hopes and dreams. A special person who I can call my best friend and my sister-out-law. We are planning a trip to the Big Cypress swamp for a photo journey, something we also love to do together. We have journeyed many a mile snapping pictures, I must admit that she has a fantastic eye for her subjects. I can't wait to go on our next journey together. We will have yet another opportunity to forget the world around us and dive into the fantasy of the adventure. My amazing friend lets me go to places that offer laughs, smiles and love like my family. I can honestly say that she is just like a sister to me, and if you ask my sisters they will tell you there is not enough sisters to keep me in line.

I don't have a lot of friends that are this special to me and I guess that is why she is the best, I love you Margo. To many years of picture taking and adventures until we are too old, but then again that is what wheel chairs are for. I can see us as friends forever, no matter how many days or miles separate us.