How many of your friends from elementary school do you still talk to or see on a regular basis? My answer: None. That saddens me because I had a lot of great friends when I was a kid, and I miss them. But families move, parents divorce, kids switch schools and some things just fall through the cracks.

But not everyone apparently...you can't keep a good Jew down. I have one friend who I've known since I was at least 6 or 7, since the times we were gluing popsicle sticks together into Jewish stars. We met at a camp and also knew each other from a Jewish conference we attend once a year. That's it, just that once. Not including the 2 or 3 years we missed since then, for various reasons and guilt on both our parts. And every year, those 4 days would fly by and we'd always be so sad to leave each other. We'd have hung out together other times during the year, except we lived 2 hours apart...which in kid years may as well be on the other side of the world because you know your parents will never drive you. By the time we were teenagers and picked up on the IM craze, we had grown apart a tad...I like to call those "The Lost Years." Then we finally reunited... even though we are complete and total opposites.

Just how opposite can you be, I wonder. She is a petite, feminine, giggly, fun-loving little girl and her favorite color is, yep you guessed it, pink. Note the font in honor of her- you didn't think I'd choose that on my own, did ya? ) She is also a myspace junkie, and you all know how I feel about myspace. I am a bitter, cynical, sarcastic tomboy, often referring to myself as a grumpy old man to describe my personality and behavior, with punky hair and my favorite color is black. I am a tv.com junkie. We look like we couldn't possibly be friends. And yet, I love her. She also just started reading my blogs and yes, SHE LOVES THEM. Proof right there we were meant to be friends.

So we started talking on the phone just a few months ago, and this past weekend, I drove 2 hours to visit her. We had so much fun that I brought her home so our visit could be extended, and she could see my sister too, because she loves her as well. After all, she's travel-sized for my convenience. We didn't stop talking the whole weekend, because we had many years of little stories to catch up on. You know when you go to an annual conference, you never get a chance to fill someone in on all the little details of your year, so you just do the highlights. And I brought her to my church, which of course, she loved. It was like I was 10 years old again...

And for her amusement, and my gas mileage, she wanted to fly in my dad's plane (See "Come Fly With Me..." blog), so we took her home in that. And that was my weekend.

Here are a few pics of us when we were younger. Amazingly I don't have one of me and her together (except on my camera phone), but here's one of me and her brother and one of her brother and her (she's much perkier and more well-rested now than she was in this picture ).

Those who are bored can play around in Photoshop and put em together.

Anyway, so sorry I haven't posted my weekly blog yet...or commented on others. I've said it before and I'll say it again...there is never enough time in the day or coffee in the world!

So quick update on my 4th of July, as I hope everyone else had a fabulous freedom celebration (enjoy it while it lasts folks ), and I'm sure I'll read all the fun in the blogs when I get to read em.

My Independence Day was pretty much as I expected. My parents are out of town, so my uncle came over to hang out, and we decided to go and see some fireworks. Of course, he didn't want to miss them so we went at 8, but, much to my dismay, they didn't start till 9. So we sat...in the car....in the pouring rain...for an hour. All the while, he complained that his arm was wet. Considering he was sticking it out the window to smoke a cigarette IN THE RAIN, I wasn't surprised and wasn't able to muster any sympathy. And I, being the incredibly impatient person that I am, proceeded to sing Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra songs until that got boring. Then I just went full out Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit, (his description of me BTW) begging for my freedom from the cage that was his 4 Runner/insane asylum.

Despite all that, the fireworks were loud and lovely. (These are not mine but I imagine fireworks look the same no matter who snaps the photo )

Then of course, when I got home and finally wanted to get back online to work on my emails and chat with folks, alas I discovered....my cable had gone out! And of course, my cable provider is my ISP so yes, no Internet. A fate worse than death. I fell asleep shortly after.

Now I'm here...in a room...with one student and my coworker's kid. Wait, no the student left without me knowing....yeah this is a busy day.

Also, yes I know this blog is getting long, bear with me here, I'm leaving for Nashville tomorrow morning. Yes that's right, my friends and I are driving 13 hours to go to The Call in Nashville, Tennessee. The conference is all day Saturday and then we will drive home another 13 hours on Sunday. Monday, I have asked off from work so I can SLEEP.

I will "see" you all when I return. Have a blessed weekend!