Ah, me! The percentage of people I adore born in the wintry month of January is rather LARGE, is it not?

Amanda, whose birthday I will now celebrate, called me the day before her birthday to “let me off the hook.” She is a regular reader of this old blog and knowing my penchant for birthday tributes she said, “Just pretend like my birthday is another day!”

AS IF!

There is a phrase in Spanish that describes my feelings for Amanda perfectly – “Mi media naranja” – it is actually the English equivalent of “my other half”  -but the direct translation is to say that the person is the other half of one’s orange. I have always thought this is one of the world’s cutest sayings. Amanda is an orange to me! She is like my tall glass of orange juice at the start of the day, talking to her always gives me a boost. She is like the orange at the bottom of my Christmas stocking, knowing her and loving her is an absolute TREAT. Further more, I believe that if Amanda were to be a fruit she would choose to be an orange, as she adores the color so! So media naranja it is!

The very first time that she and I were spotted hanging out together – one of AJ’s neighbors asked her, “Is your sister in town?” She was referring to little old me. Oh, how truly inspired that neighbor was. She was not the first to think we were related. In fact, I have lost count of the times that people have asked us if we are sisters. OR even more extreme when people have thought I was Amanda or the times that people thought Amanda was me. It is SERIOUSLY nuts.

(who’s who? This is tricky of me – but we switched babies, did we getcha?!)

I don’t mind one little bit being confused for AJ because I think she is a FOX. Please, confuse me for her any day of the week, dear people of the world. I believe her to be my superior in “the babe department” so it sends a thrill right through me when people think that I am her.

Let me tell you a little bit about her.

She is a wonderful contradiction of true self discipline and relaxed laid-back-ness. She lives her life with order and purpose, but she knows when to throw it all out the window and let go. For example, her house is always very tidy and orderly (and her kitchen floor is so clean I would feel comfortable eating off of it) and yet when something comes up or someone needs her help, she can let things go while she reaches out to the person in need.  She raises her kids with a sense of boundaries and discipline, for example, how many four year olds do you know who ask their parents to take them home from a party because they are ready to go to bed? Just saying, this kind of thing doesn’t just miraculously occur. It is the result of training. Her self discipline has most recently manifest itself in her ability to loose over 50 lbs, I have actually lost track of how much she has lost. She has shed way more than those pesky “baby weight” pounds and I am here to report that she is looking gooooood!

She is REAL. What I mean by this is that when Amanda tells you how she feels about something – she is going to tell you the truth.  I find this so refreshing. I feel like her commitment to honesty  has given me the freedom and opportunity to try to be more honest myself. More than once I have been in a situation where I’ve had a choice of sugar coating something or just being straightforward and saying what I really felt – I thought of Amanda and chose to be honest! That is kind of awesome, don’t you think? Just the kind of thing you hope your friends will do for you – help you be a better human being.

She is devoted. If I know anything for certain, I know that Amanda has my back. That she will look out for my best interests and that she will defend me to the bitter end. When something horrible happens she’s one of the first people I call and equally if something wonderful happens she is right there at the top of my list of people with whom I must share my good news. She is also devoted to her family and to her God. She has always wanted to please God – even as a child, when for a time, those closest to her were fading in their convictions, Amanda stayed true to the gospel.  I don’t know what else to say except that she is a rock.

She is funny. I still remember one time she told me this story where I laughed so hard my back started to hurt and Jan came up from his office to see what in the world was going on. I think I might have even fallen to the floor laughing.

Amanda is one of my style icons. I watch how she dresses and what she is doing and then I copy her. Actually I think we might be on some kind of clairvoyance in the style department as we are constantly buying the SAME things without knowing the other person has bought them. Whether for ourselves or our children – we are drawn to the same stuff. This makes a shopping trip ever so enjoyable. My idea of heaven is being at the Mall with AJ and other our bud, Emily – no kids in tow and laughing till we think we might pee our pants. The other crazy clairvoyance thing we’ve got going on is that we show up at church wearing identical outfits on a regular basis. I still don’t know how we do it, but it happens all the stinkin’ time. (This may be one of the reasons that we are always being confused for the other person.)

Amanda is a kick-butt mom. She is one of the very best, in my humble opinion. Her kids are awesome. Once I overheard some people talking about her kids and wondering, “Why are they so good?” I HAD  to step in and say, “Umm, I think it may have to do with the fact that their mom is AWESOME.” Ya think? She is the kind of mom who doesn’t take any c***. She was very wise to marry Craig who is an equally terrific father. It seems to me like when the parents are on the same page the results are MAGICAL. I love their kids like they were my own. And that isn’t really saying much for me and my capacity to love – it is saying a lot about the QUALITY of the kids and the way they are being raised.

She likes to scare me on a semi-regular basis by telling me that her husband is thinking of taking work positions in foreign lands. In the early days of our relationship I would panic internally during these conversations – but on the surface I would try to remain indifferent and calm. Recently, there was another scare where for a brief moment it looked like her husband was considering making a move to a far away place. I think my heart stopped beating for a moment. I came flat out and told her, “I can’t be neutral. I am not a good sounding board for you on this one.” When she later told me that her husband had decided against going for the position all of a sudden I felt like DANCING!

Here’s the thing – I cannot imagine my life without her!

I love you, my little orange julius. I don’t know where I would be or what I would do without you!

Happy Birthday!