And another thing... Happy Birthday Lori

I grew up in a small town (can you say "Horton Hears A Who" small?) and my closest friend for most of my growing up years was Lori. When I first met her she was wearing pigtails and horn-rimmed glasses and I can still see her that way 30-something years later.
We played "Ding Dong Ditch", held tennis matches in the street, played hooky from school (to paint ceramics-- how pathetic is that?) and sang along with Shaun Cassidy into a cassette recorder. She made Shrinky Dinks and had the Little People and Barbies I always wished I had. I cried with her when her dog Dinky died because she had been left unknowingly in the car. We went our separate ways about the time that she met the man she would eventually marry. Every once in a while, some news will trickle my way about her, but for the most part I have no idea what she's doing with her life or whether or not she's happy. However, not one December 11th has gone by in all of these years that I didn't think to myself "Happy Birthday Lori".