My longest friend Rachel

This is a short, yet meaningful tribute to one of my best and longest friends, Rachel Jacobs. See, when I was in the first grade with her in Mrs. Hodge-Trice's class, we hit it off. Our parents were both involved with the PTA and became friends there, so between them and us - it was a match made in heaven. Rachel moved shortly after 1st grade to Richmond, KY (from Lou) and we kept in touch by writing REAL letters (imagine that, a true, bonified pen pal!) and making trips back and forth in the summer (I can still remember sitting in the back seat of one of those car rides with Mitchell, Rachel's dad, spouting off math problems, "If we're at mile 233 and we are getting off the interstate at mile 410, how many miles do we have to go?" Rachel beat me EVERY time... guess SHE shoulda been the math teacher, heh?).

From there she moved to St. Louis, and from there she moved to Dallas (Austin), TX. And from there, MOST recently, she moved to Chicago. All by her lonesome. A woman in control of her own destiny. I'm so proud of her and think she is one of the most intelligent and reflective friends I know. Not to mention the oldest one, who - despite our distance and lack of involvement in the daily workings of life - know the parts of each other that most people don't... the 6-year-old thru 29-year-old parts. That's a long time to know someone.

Rachel turns 29 today. And I wish her a happy, happy birthday. She got the news of being offered a new job and the news of her father's more optimistic health outlook for her birthday. Hope you get lots more, too, Rachel~!!!