For as long as I’ve known my best friend Kym, she’s been trying to get me to take a trip with her. And I haven’t exactly refused…well ok. I have. Because let’s face it, I never considered myself someone with “great luck”. And when you watch movies about two best friends traveling abroad together, generally only one of them gets to come back alive or with their freedom. For some reason I felt like I was destined to be cast as “the dead best friend” in our movie of life. But then I gave traveling a shot by myself a little and got a little more comfortable with the idea and I also just had a talk with Karma and said, “look, really, there is no reason my luck can’t change and start shaping up. So whaddaya say?” And you know what?? Today I booked my flight to go to England to meet Kym for our friends Becky & Joe’s wedding in August and then we’re doing a side trip around Germany and Austria. And we’re both coming back alive and well!! Because sometimes you have to take chances. You have to know that if you jump, there will be someone or something there to catch you. And oftentimes that person is your best friend. 

    Kym has literally caught me since the beginning- San Diego 2004 . She was there for me when things got a little “dicey” shall we say with my roommates and I was in need of a friend to vent to, (I’ll admit I wasn’t the best friend back, & I actually went MIA on her for about a year and some change) and then when I reconnected with her, in 2006 it turned out, I needed heart surgery & she selflessly let my family spend the holidays in her beach front apartment so we could all be under the same roof and I could recuperate with them and not in a hotel while she was visiting family in Australia. Fast forward a year and Kym showed up in my hospital room once again looking like a bleach blonde pixie fresh after my car accident in 2007 to comfort me and rarely left my side for months after. We spent the next few years living pretty much a mere mile and a half away from each other when all was said and done and grew close as sisters. Occasionally fighting like sisters too, but always out of love. 

    Still I enforced the travel ban between us stronger than Trump’s. Mainly out of my own fear…much like Tru…anyway. I digress. And soon, Kym would move from San Diego up to Los Angeles in 2010 and I couldn’t have been happier for her. 

     I stayed longer than I should have out on the West Coast but felt the need to wrap it up rapidly coming and finally in 2013 once all my surgeries were completed I called it a day and packed it in and moved home to Upstate New York. After a very serious illness almost didn’t end well for me. Kym and her then boyfriend Simon were integral in moving me forward during that particular phase of my life and I simply would not be here without them and the love they showed me. Along with a few other friends of ours as well. 

    After I left CA, Kym did unthinkable tasks like brought all my remaining belongings to a storage facility and put what she thought I might want or might want to donate or just give away there so the next time it would be very easy for me to sort. That was the true mark of a friendship right there. 

    Now to have this trip to FINALLY BE ABLE TO GO AND JUST BE PARTNERS ON!!! It’s going to be everything we’ve been wanting to do for decades !! Just fun, no stress, no work…just sightsee and exploring. I can’t wait. Truly, taking chances and not being afraid to jump. Because this time we are both there to catch each other. That Is Just The Good Stuff.