Happy Birthday Kim

This is Kim. I met Kim back at the end of March because she and her son Jaxon previewed & joined Gymboree on the same day Tenley and I did. Tenley was immediately drawn to her because she’s Japanese and to a 1.5 year old an Asian is an Asian and Kim seemed nice and looked familiar to her. As a bonus, she had Jaxon and Tenley loves little boys.
So Kim and I talked and traded phone numbers and set up play dates. We got insanely lucky: Tenley and Jaxon genuinely like each other and enjoy each other’s company…and so do Kim and I.

In the past 9 months I have learned that Kim loves to knit and is quite an accomplished knitter (I got a cute little magenta clutch for Christmas & she’s knitting Tenley a sweater). In this respect I have also learned that she is foolishly optimistic because she is trying to teach me to knit…this may be why she shares my love of margaritas. She loves animals, likes Thai and Mexican food, shoes, make-up, and should not be left unattended in Nordstrom. She’s great fun to talk to, and as a NoCal transplant she can tell me about places I vaguely know, and some I’ve never heard of but might now like to see. Kim majored in fish and volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We both love to travel, eat, shop, watch movies, and occasionally escape our children. In a wonderful and bizarre twist of fate, we both married geeks that get along famously.

30 years ago today, Kim was “gifted” to her parents. In 2006 she was my late birthday present. I desperately wanted a Mom friend to hang out with and kvetch about Tenley to on the bad days. I wanted Tenley to have a friend to play with. In all the parenting books and magazines they make it sound so easy: just go hang out at your neighborhood park every day at the same time and you’ll make a friend! But I found it didn’t work that way, and I prayed very hard for a Mom Friend- and my prayers were answered- I got Kim.

We both have Forever Friends: people like Aunty Meg who have been in our lives forever and hold their own special untouchable place (partly because they know too much!) and who are more family than friends. But now we also have each other- a best friend who understands why you’re describing the contents of your child’s diaper in detail over dinner and thinks nothing of it.

Happy 30th Birthday Kim! Thank you for being my friend.