my friend, i love

there's this woman who's been my friend since 1989. we were 12 when we met in our 7th grade science class. i think we went roller skating the first time we hung out, and i helped her out with her science project (she was studying flexibility and whether stretching increased it). we were wholly unsuccessful at baking together, although the two of us could bake fine when we were on our own. we wrote a kickin' song based on boo radley. once, she called kevin and bean to tell them that bart connor was a jerk.

to her, my friend the woman, i sing this:

"I have a friend in a bright and distant town
She's found a common balance
Where you do your work, and you do your love
And they pay you, and praise your many talents
Well I'm passing through, and we know we won't sleep
She laughs, puts up the tea
She says "You know I think you remember every part of me."
And the water starts to boil
And if I had a camera
Showing all the light we give
And showing where the light extends
I'd give it to my friends"

flashing forward almost 16 years, she's married, she's pregnant, and she's due not on june 10, but 14 days earlier, in my ever-humble opinion. which gives her about 2 more months of pregnantness. and lately, she's tired, and frustrated, and feeling all-over wretched. she doesn't want to give birth just yet, because she knows it's too soon for the baby... but i think that physically she's ready and mentally she's ready, and she's just hit a point of frustration.

she's a mommy, and i am so happy for her. what an amazing mommy she'll be. she has an endless capacity for love, and a really low threshold for BS, she has a wicked sense of humor, and that really rare mixture of compassion and tough love. and she gets to share this with her son, whom i know she already loves, even for all the bladder poking he's doing.

so for her, the tired preggo, i sing this:

"One thing I know
This pain will go
Step through all that's left to feel
I wait to meet my love made real
Don't move don't touch
Don't talk so much
Strip and find the place to kneel
I wait to meet my love made real"

since i can't be there when he's born, i am going to sing this to her son from his mommy (since she swears she won't sing in front of others) all the way from here...

"Those men who lust for land
And for riches strange and new
Who love those trinkets of desire
Oh they never will have you

And they'll never know the gold
Or the copper in your hair
How could they weigh the worth
Of you so rare"