A very happy birthday to my good friend, lovely, smart and funny Rachel (or as Zoe calls her, Ray Chow)! May you have a wonderful year of honor grades, bearded-men viewing, Diet Coke, happy-making music, soccer, ice cream and caramel. I’ll induct you into the Old Lady Club whenever you’re ready. We get discounts on car insurance and become quite sleepy early in the day.

Also, we need more pictures together - how do I have so few?

As her birthday falls during NaBloPoMo, I hope she won’t mind if I digress for the purpose of a post, and because if I get sappy in person she hates it.

I knew Rachel and I would be friends on the first day of the pre-entry program. We chatted from the get-go, and when we merged two groups together (after breaking up for tours or something), I was just about to ask her how her day was going, when she asked me how mine was going.

Rachel is a driving force in my education and a solid friend who both recognizes and tolerates my true crazy. Where else would I get my Northern expression exposure? My favorites: pop (for soda), bag (pronounced “beeag”), and bun (for roll, or any bread you eat on the side of a meal).

For this birthday girl I went to a bar, so you know she’s special.