Have I sent you any handwritten notes? If I have, I've probably used the cursive letters taught in this Palmer Method.

If my handwriting were a font, it would be called Catholic School.

Michelle and I talked recently about how odd we find the concept of having a "best friend" as an adult. We both have had "best friends"-- a term that was exclusive to one person and frankly, caused tension with other people. Those relationships ended in our teens and very early 20s though. Perhaps it's the exclusivity of the term that rubs me the wrong way. Conversely, I find the concept of multiple "best" friends ludicrous. Doesn't best inherently indicate that one is better than others?

When we were kids, it always annoyed me and my sister Cathy that when we asked our parents who their best friends were, they'd name each other. We'd moan, "no, a girl!" or "no, a boy!" depending on who we were asking. They'd reply by listing Aunt Linda or Uncle Timmy, probably more to appease us than anything else.

I understand now. Michelle is my best friend. The one person that is the closest to me. Maybe having a same sex partner makes the whole concept one that I just can't understand the way that other women my age, women who have husbands and children to care for, who feel the need for a "girls night" might get. My whole life is a girls night.

If you asked me who my closest friends are, I'd list four people outside of my family who I could call in the middle of the night and they'd get to me as quickly as they could. People who help themselves to beverages in my house. People whose kitchen I will stand in and do dishes while we chat. It's likely that any of those four people would list someone else if you asked them who their best friend is. That's okay with me. I know they have my back if I need them and I have theirs. They'll fly from Alabama to celebrate my birthday, spend hours in the car on a knitting adventure with me, talk for hours over coffee even if we haven't seen each other in months because of crazy work schedules, or have long talks about crazy families over glasses of white wine. I love them and I consider each of them wonderful. And maybe that's the best thing about having friends.