A friendly visit

You all remember my friend, Amber.

Amber has been a part of my life for almost 22 years. We met when we were 5 years old, and we have been the best of friends ever since. I'm so fortunate to be able to say that I am still friends with the people I have considered my best friends for most of my life. My friend Ashley, and I, have been friends since we were 6, and Kristina and I have been friends since we were 14. I would consider these 3 my life-long friends. You know...the friends you can go years without seeing but then when you meet again, you just pick up where you left off. I know that not many people can say that they are still friends with people they met that long ago, so I consider myself very blessed.

Amber has been in town for a few days to visit some family for the holidays. So, I took advantage of her visit, and I kidnapped her for a day. She spent yesterday and last night with us, and it was just like old times. We did the usual reminiscing about the old days and laughing about all the crazy stuff we did back then. Amber and I were/are quite the duo. We just click, and you see it right away with us. It's obvious that there is a history there....and a good one at that.

Amber spent the day with me, my mom, and my sister. We just went various places around town....and I may or may not have driven them all out into the country to see "my" house...again. Amber loved it.

After that, we went back to my house and we tackled one part of our "list." We watched some iCarly episodes - specifically the pilot episode. Here's why: when we were in elementary school, Amber and I had a pretend TV show where we would talk about whatever we wanted and just do crazy stuff. Usually, we bantered back and forth with our nemesis, the fictional Jack Hunt. We were trying the save the chimps (yeah...I don't know....). Anyway, when I first saw the pilot of iCarly, I immediately thought of us - and I remember actually saying, "That's US! That's me and Amber!" The similarities are really bizzare. If you've ever seen the show, I would be Carly and Amber would be Sam. This may be a teeny-bopper show, but it's just so cute. I love it. Anyway, we have put together this list of things for us to do when she gets out of her school/training she is in right now. One thing on the list was to watch the iCarly pilot, so we did, and Amber is now a convert. She definitely sees us in this show.

After that, Amber tagged along with us to a Christmas gathering at Jeremy's parents' house. Without getting too detailed, his parents have been taking care of a little girl in our family while custody issues get straightened out. It appears that things will get straightened out this week, and she will be going home. Last night was a way for all of us to have Christmas with her before she has to leave. I'm glad Amber got to meet her; she immediately took to Amber....the big kid.

When we got home, Amber and I settled in for a scary movie. As kids we always set ourselves up. Both of us knew how scared we were when it came to scary movies, but we just couldn't help ourselves. I had asked her if she had ever seen the movie, 1408. It came up because I had just heard Karen Carpenter's "Merry Christmas, Darling" and I told her how that song creeped me out because all I could ever hear when I heard her voice was, "We've Only Just Begun" which is the creepy song in 1408. After saying that, she had to see the movie. I succeeded in scaring her. And, as I remember her doing so many times when we were younger, Amber talked to the main character throughout the entire movie - "Don't do it!"; "Just go to sleep!"; "Stop doing that!"; "Just leave, you idiot!." It was great - just like old times.

Sadly, I had to take her back to her Uncle's this morning, which is her old house from when we were kids. So, we walked around the house, remembering how things once were. It was like we were kids again. Here we were, the dynamic duo, walking in to find her parents and grandparents and uncle....much like we would have if we were 20 years younger. I miss the days when things were so simple....when we didn't have a care in the world....when we set out in reckless abandon....testing our limits and knowing no boundaries. Then, we grew up. Such is life, I guess.

As I said in the post I wrote about Amber - we all need an Amber in our lives. I'm glad I have the original.