Birthday Presence

January 11 1958 - It was a stormy snowy night. My mom had a rotten cold. It did not stop her from playing cards with my dad and the neighbors...Mr and Mrs. Dodge. Both my mom and Mrs. Dodge a whopping 9 months pregnant. Mrs. Dodge was due to have her baby and my mom was due weeks later. But hey. I wasn't waiting. Today was gonna be my birthday no matter how good a poker hand she had. No matter how hard it was snowing... January 15, 4 days later, Lynde (Lindy) Dodge was born. My birthday present. We lived across the street from each other. We were non blood related twins from then on. Inseparable. Our moms had coffee in the morning at our house and coffee in the afternoon at her house. We played paper dolls, Barbies, Little Kittles, strung indian corn, popcorn and beads, made bracelets out of electric wires, belts out of plastic, went to dance school, raked paths in the woods, ice skates, roller skates, tag, dodgeball, basketball, swimming, picnics .... and we walked to school up hill in the snow for miles every day to Live Oaks school. lol (Lynde still has the paper dolls my mom made and the Barbie clothes my mom made) see pic. Lynde was notorious for cheering me up in life with Saltines whenever we had a little disagreement. While I would sit on my back porch and pout, Lynde would fly out her front door..."Jul I got crackers". A fight between the two of us never lasted longer than a new pack of Saltines from Lynde or me with Sunkist orange halves.

In 1972, houses sold, families parted kids grow up and words get said and two little girls are separated and silently heartbroken. And life goes on. One small gesture to sign each others high school yearbooks, one brief hello in a store and 40 years go by. Everyone who knew me knew me and Lynde knew us as one.

And then there is Facebook. Our families friended, and we connected once again. The love and bond picks up immediately through words on a page and the memories and feelings flood back in. Laughs and tears.

SO....when someone asks you what you want for your birthday...I asked for Lynde. I messaged her sister Brenda back in December to see if I could possibly surprise her. The response was most likely not. Lynde is a Cast member at Disney and a caregiver to her mom and quite busy. Lynde is an avid blog follower of ours, and also friends and classmates to Judy. SO I just threw it out there that me and Judy may come to Florida and could we visit. Turns out Lynde was free, on vacation for a week on her Birthday. I suddenly became her birthday present and she mine. Its all we wanted for our birthday. There are no words to describe how excited and how amazing it was knowing we were going to be physically be in each others presence for the first time in 40 years. SO Jules and Judy once again jumped in the car and drove 1200 miles to make this happen.

Lynde went above and beyond to accommodate our trip, setting us up in Animal kingdom with all the amenities, goodies and provisions that make this experience more magical than anyone could imagine.
The meeting: Cell phones - where are you, I'm here with Judy in front of the hotel in the car, where, here, where here and then a scream. And a huge hug, and tears and all the mushy mushy stuff that happens when you remember what you forgot and when you get back what you lost.

We had lunch, laughs, exchanged gifts and then dinner in Epcot with fireworks. Lynde drove us around the parks. All I could think of was "Look, Lynde IS DRIVING". I never saw it. I was not surprised she likes chicken nuggets and coke and spaghetti and meatballs. I on the other hand pomegranate ice tea, gourmet flat bread - and rigatoni in a mild cream sauce with chicken, peas and Parmesan. YUP..we were the same. Same as we were as kids I mean. Can't wait to see what the day will bring today because she went home last night and I miss her already.

One thing (I am gonna have to watch a week of Judy and Lynde and eventually Karen, a friend joining us later in the week talk baby talk to all the animals outside our porch) FFS!!!! lol