Happy Birthday to You

Today is Chris' birthday. I was lucky enough to spend the weekend with her at Marquette for our reunion. More about that later, because today it's all about Chris.

I met Chris during our freshman year in college, but we never really hung out together. She and I joke that we went to different colleges, because she doesn't know a lot of my college friends, and vice versa. It was evident this weekend while we were at the reunion.

After college, she lived with Ellen, and that's how I got to know her. Soon we all became roommates, and lived together for a few years. Eventually when Ellen got married, Chris and I lived together.

The picture above, although pretty blurry, was taken on Cubs opening day this year. You all know about our opening day tradition of being at Yaksie's from 6:00 am, until late in the day? Well, this was taken at the start of that day. I think of the opening day festivities as Chris and my tradition, since we started it on a whim a long time ago. I love this picture because not only is it taken on opening day, but it is also taken at Yaksie's, where Chris and I found ourselves so many times on Friday nights after work. It was 2 blocks from our apartment, and it was an easy choice when we didn't want to cook and wanted to get out for the night. I think we contributed to the rent of the place during that year by ordering our usual: 10 wings, pizza, fries, and a couple beverages.

I am celebrating Chris' birthday today because she is such a great friend to me. She and I have been through a lot together, and I'm thankful that she was there with me through these years. We've traveled to places together like Ireland, DC, and Vegas, and have had too many laughs to count. It doesn't matter what we're doing or where we are, as long as we're together, we have fun. And like I've said before, we never run out of things to talk about. That is a sign of a true friend. And Chris is a true friend, indeed.

Happy Birthday, Chris! I hope you spend this day doing something you love.