Reason #47....

The concept of "best friend" seems to disappear from spoken vocabulary around the age of 19... but it hasn't left the way I feel.

Mine gave me reason #47 (no I didn't count - just estimating) that I love having her in my life yesterday. I got a picture text from her (and if I had a phone with that new-fangled technology that would let me download the picture to my computer you could see it), of a kind of rough looking upholstered chair, asking "How hard would this be to reupholster? It's only $5!" After a phone call and a couple more texts telling her it might be tough, but it would be fun, she came back with "I got it for $1! I'm so excited!" Shortly followed by "I love that I have a friend like you who entertains me with these projects."

I love that too.

And another reason I love her...

She let's me be a part of this sweet girl's life.

Couldn't be more disappointed...

...ok, I probably could be more disappointed, but this bit of news upset me tonight.

Did you know.... Ann M. Martin (of The Baby-Sitter's Club fame) herself did not in fact write all 213 volumes of the series? She estimates she only wrote 60 to 80 of them. Granted, the series was only around for 14 years, and writing them herself would require a pace of more than one a month. I suppose I've still been living in the world where Kristy, Mary Anne, Claudia, and Stacey (on a side note, my favorite babysitter from my own childhood was named Stacey) met three times a week to talk about the kids they watched, solved mysteries while watching approximately 20 kids between them, went on vacation together (with all the kids they sat for), and I didn't do the math but instead hoped that this one woman was this prolific a writer and fabulous a storyteller.

Crushed, Ann M. Martin. Crushed.