Kathleen: 5 SubZero Refrigerators

Yesterday was Kathleen's birthday. In her honor, I baked a key lime pie, because it's her favorite and it always reminds me of her. I also thought she deserves a tribute of her own, because she's only shared one with others up to now.

Kathleen is my best friend. I've known her for 9 years, ever since I started working for Charlie. When I think about how we met, when she showed up hung over at my recruiting dinner, it reminds me of the first line of Joseph Heller's Catch-22: "It was love at first sight."

Sometimes the concept of a best friend seems kind of silly to me. I mean, I have many close friends that I love dearly. But Kathleen is the one I think of first when I have big news, or when I'm upset and need to vent, or when I just want to chill with a friend. She's got the foulest mouth and the biggest heart of anyone I know. She's socially brazen and outspoken, but adorably nervous about little things. She is hilarious when she tells a joke, because she gets so excited in anticipation of the punchline that she starts to crack up -- by the time the joke is over, she's crying with laughter. She'll do anything for a friend. She's one of the few people I know who never annoys me.

When I think about her, I think of the time she and I did our first triathlon together, in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2000. I helped her through the swim, and she helped me through the run, and we finished holding hands -- a tradition we carried forward to future races. Afterwards, we went to Waffle House and ate pretty much the entire left side of the menu, and then we retired to our hotel room, flopped into our respective beds, and had conversations like this the rest of the day:

"Do you have the TV remote?"

"It's on my bed but I'm too tired to reach for it. You have a problem with Teletubbies?"

"Bite me."

"I'm too tired."

We were among the founding members of our book club and our Girls' Night group. We wrote countless legal briefs together. I celebrated Christmas with her family, and she celebrated Thanksgiving and Passover with mine. I love her children as I love Zeke, and I would do anything for them. My mother views Kathleen as another one of her children. She kept me company and walked my dog when I was recuperating after my breast reduction surgery. When I came back from Costa Rica in love with my Australian surf instructor, she supported the relationship all the way -- Jason and I frequently have to fight over the phone when we're talking to her, because he's come to love her almost as much as I do.

Kathleen is, quite simply, a part of me. Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows her name. I can't imagine my life without her, and a big motivation for eventually getting back to the mainland again is to be able to live out my life with her close by.

Most of all, she makes me strive to be a better person and a better friend, daughter, wife, and sister to the people in my life, because she sets such an amazing example.

And so, my friend, this post is for you. I love you and I wish you a happy birthday. For just being you, I award you (on a scale of 5) 5 SubZero Refrigerators, because you're the coolest chick I know.