Happy Birthday Jen

With the crazy way that Blogger schedules posts, this may show up on August 2nd, even though I'm writing it on August 1st...

TODAY, August 1st, is my BFF's birthday :) I first met Jen back in 1997 while we were both high school English teachers at Ellison High School in Killeen, TX.  We were at a English department luncheon at Golden Corral (no, seriously....) and the rest was history. I knew it was fate when we both thought those ladies were crazy for reading those books that they all loved.  Fate stepped in a few days later when Jen got her first student roll and all the other teachers warned her about a student named Javier and I told her he was my favorite student. And then it sealed the deal when a month later she came and told me he was her favorite, too. People would often compare us to Laverne and Shirley, thinking that I was Shirley and she was Laverne, but those people who know us well know that in truth, it's completely the opposite.  I am totally Laverne and she is completely Shirley--except we're both WAY smarter than they are, and milk and Pepsi is just gross...At first glance, it would appear that we have nothing in common, but in reality, we are halves of the same whole.  She is proof that a person can be lucky enough to have two soul mates in life.  I miss her everyday (and yes, I still talk to her everyday--even all the way from Italy) Happy Birthday Aunt Jen!

I frequently tell people that we are twins...

We even have the same tattoo.