Happy Birthday Becky

This is a special note to say, Happy 30th birthday to one of my oldest, dearest friends, Miss604. I’ve known Rebecca (Becky) for 25 years now, since we were five years old, when we met in Mlle. Dupont’s morning Kindergarten class at Hjorth Road Elementary School in Surrey. A girl with golden curls and big blue eyes sat beside me on the orangey-brown carpet. She was holding keys. Like grown-up house keys. I said, “Whose are those?” She said, “They’re mine.” I thought she was so cool and I knew we had to be friends.

And we did. Becky and I were inseparable from that point on. From science projects, to burying letters to ghosts, to a trip to France at 14, to sitting on students’ council—we did everything together. It was always Becky and Michelle, Michelle and Becky; most of the time, it felt like we were one.

Except when it came to January 9th, when Becky would turn a whole new number in age, six months ahead of me. It was always such a shock and a reminder that we were growing up. I remember when Becky was turning 10 years old, I called her and said, “I can’t believe you’re 10.” Double digits seemed unfathomable to me at the time.

Since then, I’ve been calling her up and saying the same thing (“I can’t believe your turning…), only inserting the new, appropriate age. But more than anything, this tradition is a reminder to me of how lucky I am to know such a wonderful person: beautiful and strong, hard-working and thoughtful, loyal and trustworthy, someone who would have your back no matter what. And forever, my best friend.

Happy birthday Becky! I can’t believe you’re turning….30!