"I wish I was a kid again, doing what I did again ..."

I spent Saturday with my oldest friend. She's getting ready to move across country to California, to begin a new job and a new chapter of her life. Our festivities included emptying out her safety deposit box and saying goodbye to her parents' graves. But the real fun part was going through a box of old 16 and Teen Scene magazines from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Ah, Bobby Sherman! David Cassidy! Barnabas from Dark Shadows! Pete from The Mod Squad! Yes, all the dashing heartthrobs of our junior high years were represented. They each faced heartache, shared love secrets and begged to be our faves. At times, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe.

I don't think I'll see her again now until December, when I go out to visit her in her new home for her 54th birthday. But we're in contact almost every day, sometimes more than once a day, and I'm sure that won't change. We're closer than sisters, and a few miles isn't going to change that.