Becky Poo

Every week I plan to highlight one special person in my life and share our journey, mostly because it's a feel good type of post that I can reflect back on when times are tough.  It's always good to remember the good stuff.

This is Rebecca, known fondly as Becky Poo.  Our friendship developed in one day in 1995 and I remember it so distinctly.  We were on our end of the school year outing at Rohr park and although we'd been in classes together all year, we had never really spoken.  To set the stage, I am not a sportsman at all and Rebecca is beyond talented.  I had stupidly decided to venture into a sea of really tall bushes that had a hidden path inside them with a couple of friends and much to my dismay got smacked in the eye with a branch.  As my eye swelled shut I opted not to notify the teachers or chaperones that were with us on the trip.  Why?  That wasn't how I rolled.  Instead I found myself rather delirious and on the basketball court, where Rebecca was playing hoops.  My humor really shined through and so did my lack of talent at basketball.  I threw the ball towards the hoop with reckless abandon and Rebecca and I wound up laughing hysterically the whole time.  Laughing hysterically pretty much defines our friendship.

Unfortunately for us, that was our end of the year activity which meant we went right into summer vacation.  Our new bond had to wait because this was before we could drive (hi, we were just out of 7th grade) and I went straight to summer camp.  The great news is that as we approached 8th grade, we found out we had THREE classes together!  We both wanted to be architects until I discovered the amount of math involved, we both love oldies music, and we were constantly discovering our similarities and sharing our differences.  We got into trouble a time or two for laughing uncontrollably in history class.  Oops!  We would run the mile together in PE and bump into each other along the way and laugh.  We spent hours together requesting songs on the radio.  We confided in each other and bonded over Spaghettios and Ramen... a true mixture of super funny and oddly deep.  

We went to separate high schools for 9th and half of 10th grade, but our bond remained tight.  We had typical teenage drama, but nothing we didn't work out.  As we graduated high school she went off to Cal Poly to become an architect and I stayed in San Diego and went into the business world.  I have to say, she has designed some KICK ASS houses!  Since then she left architecture and ended up in business too, but her journey has been so amazing to witness.  She can make a full on house design out of pancakes, people!  We went to Disneyland for my 16th birthday and that day stands out as one of those days that bonded us forever.  We talked about so much that neither of us had ever shared before.  When you're 16 (or any age really) that is priceless.

On the real though, Rebecca is someone who has been part of my journey for 25 years now.  Friendships like that don't come along very often and I feel beyond fortunate to be able to text her randomly or tag her on Facebook with something funny and know she'll catch what I'm throwing down.  That's about all I throw out too since I can't throw an actual ball for anything (and believe me, she tried to teach me to throw with no success).  She's one of those friends I can look at and remember when we were young and "carefree," but thought we had problems.  I can remember when she got her first dog and how she loved playing soccer.  I can recall days spent in Old Town and her being able to play on the piano from Gone with the Wind.  I remember listening to MacArthur Park and dying laughing over someone leaving cake out in the rain.  I mean, who does that?  She was there to celebrate my Master's degree and to guide me through life's battlefield.  She's always been such a support for me... and she can also match my salsa consumption at our favorite breakfast joint!

Becky Poo, if you see this, THANK YOU for being... well, you.  I know I can always count on you to be in my corner and to laugh with me through this crazy thing we call life!  I picture us in our old age (you know, in 10 years or so) sitting in an old folks home with our canes and rocking chairs giggling away!