On the day you were born...

This is in honor of one of my favorite little people, Meaghan. Meaghan is the daughter of my bestest friend Kelly. Many of you know Kel from her comments on this blog, and from her own blog. I've known Kel for over 12 years. Kel actually baked Gret a cake for her second birthday. I drove her to and from the airport when she got married the first time (big mistake!). We've been friends through guys and fiances and marriages and divorces (hers and mine), through pregnancies and births and motherhood (I was at 2 of her births, she was at 1 of mine), through parents getting hurt (hers) and parents dying (mine), through sibling marriages (both of ours) and sibling divorces (mine), through crazy mother in laws (again, both of us) to finding peace with the women that birthed our wonderful husbands, through financial distress to being fat cats, through identity crisis and cheating spouses. Yeah, we've both earned the title of "Best Friend", and we work hard at keeping that title. There are people on this earth that I love and would do anything for (like my family), there are friends that I cry with and rejoice with (like Charity and my neighbor Kim). They are wonderful, and they enrich my life in ways that I could never fully explain. I love them more than the stars. But there is only one Kel. And she's mine. And now, so is her oldest daughter...

This weekend, I escaped to Kel's new pad in Jacksonville, NC. She just got her stuff from the movers, and I needed a place to go to escape 'not-lanta envy'. It worked out great. While there, her oldest daughter decided she needed to come home with me. I really don't know why this happened. I've always adored this child. I was there when she made her grand entrance into the world. I've always sorta worried that she wasn't quite as warm to me though. Well, not anymore! She loves me, she really loves me!! Of course, it might have something to do with the fact that she's finally realized just how much I adore her, and she's learning how to use that to her best advantage, but hey, I'll take what I can get!

I promised her the story of the day she was born, and I am trusting that her mom will keep this link and show it to her on days when she's not feelin the love from the people around her. I want her to know how much she is cherished, and that this woman can't imagine the world without her in it. So here it is, Meggers...

On the Day You Were Born...
Your mommy was living with me and my family, because we wanted to be together to share that very special time of waiting for you. I promised her that I would be her birthing coach, because she'd done the same thing for me when Michael was born. She was one hellaciously amazing woman to get through that parade in Puerto Rico to get me to the hospital before his birth. It may have had something to do with not wanting amniotic fluid on the back seat of her classic Chevelle, but I choose to believe she drove like Dale out love for me and my baby, ok? She started nesting pretty seriously the week before, and I knew you were getting close to making an entrance. I wonder if I was more excited that she was sometimes though. Oh, she wanted you, have no doubts about that. But I already had kids, and knew exactly what kind of joy you would bring her. All she really knew was that labor would hurt, you would probably cry a lot, and she had one "fat-ass car seat" for you. I think she may have been a little scared, but you know your mom - she never showed it at all! I was so proud of her!!
Before dawn, she knocked on my door. I was sleeping, and so was Shane. She said "Nise, I think it's time" and I was instantly awake. Shane was not. We waited a bit longer, then headed off to the hospital. They triaged her, then admitted her, and then the fun began.
Your mother was AMAZING, Meg. She really was. I'm getting tears in my eyes right now thinking of how strong and how brave she was. She had to have been scared, and in pain, and wondering what in the hell she was getting herself into, but she never wavered in her determination to bring you into the world healthy. She huffed and puffed with me, she focused through contractions, she squeezed my hand, she did it all, and of course she looked amazing doing it!
Finally, it was time for you to be born, and I think she would have crawled down to the end of the bed to be the first to see you if that would have been possible. It wasn't, so I got to be the lucky one. I felt so blessed. When you came whooshing out of her, I got soaked, and your silly momma started apologizing. Honestly, I barely noticed it, because I couldn't take my eyes off of you. You were one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen in my entire life. You were the absolute embodiment of adulthood for my very best friend, and I knew that I would love you because of her until I took my last breath on this earth.
I have six kids of my own. I also have a spoiled rotten niece that I adore, and a cute new nephew that I can't wait to spoil. I have two other children of my heart that actually belong to Kel also. I love them because they are hers, but I also love them because they are their own little people. I can't say "I love this one better, or this one less" because that is so very wrong, and I hate it when people do that with my kids. I don't love any of Kel's kids more or less, but I DO love them in very different ways. Meaghan is so much like my Gret that it hurts to watch her sometimes. When she smiles, I swear the angels smile with her. When she cries, my heart breaks. I would do just about any thing in this world to make sure that she was happy. I even told her Grammy this weekend that if anything ever happened to Kel, we'd have to split custody. I'd fight her tooth and nail for Kel's kids, but I know that she loves them as much as I do, but in a very different way. They are her blood, her oldest daughter's children, her legacy. She loves them ferociously. Me, I love them because I can, because I have to, because they are so much a part of the girl that I watched become a woman, and who is now my very best friend. I love them as much, but for very different reasons.

I said this post was for Meaghan, and part of it is. But really, I guess it is just as much for Kel and me. When you have a friend like Kel, when you've gone through the stuff that we have and can still pick up the phone to share the joys and the sorrows, when your friendship lasts longer than your marriages, you know what I mean. We've had our ups and downs, but we're still together. I never thought I'd have a friend like that, and I certainly never thought it would be a cute blonde chick. But it is, and I do. And I couldn't be more blessed.

I love you Meaghan.

I love you Kel.