Margaret

Someone suggested that I say something nice about each of my bride's maids at my wedding reception. They had seen it done and thought it was so nice. It was a great idea, but when I had the microphone in my hand, words really failed. I said things like, "I've known Margaret since we were kids. She's a great friend." I continued like this through all three of my bridesmaids, speaking with the eloquence of a professional athlete.

But let me tell you a bit about Margaret and why she is dear to me.

She was one of the neighborhood kids I ran around with when we lived in Ohio. That would put us at around 8-12 years old. She was the smart one that did reports from newspaper articles throughout the summer and kicked my rear in piano.

She did, however, do something very stupid once--she actually let me talk her into cutting her bangs. Let's just say that little people figures aren't the only ones with butch cuts.

She was ever faithful to follow through with my plans: digging holes to set the posts for numerous club houses that never materialized; showing up at my door at 2 A.M. to go toilet paper a neighbor's house; selling lemonade, rocks, water, siblings, anything that would fetch a nickle; riding down to Burger King or the local grocery store on bikes, or actually standing in line for each piece of gourmet sour apple candy because they were 9 cents and you had to pay tax starting at 10 cents (we were frugal).

We made up plays, raked leaves so we could jump in them, managed to get three people on one bike and ride it down the hill, made the most ridiculous looking cheerleader outfits out of tissue paper, and started a lawn business that uncharacteristically produced enough profit to fly Margaret and Amanda (the other one in our trio) down to visit me the year after I moved.



I'm on the left, Margaret on the right (no,she doesn't really have a beard--this picture is a definite candidate for photoshop), one of the Amandas is in the middle and we even managed to rope my sister, Emily, into the scheme.

We got into all kinds of innocent mischief that kids are supposed to get into. Friends like Margaret made mine a wonderful childhood. God blessed me with the richness of her friendship. She will forever hold a dear place in my heart because of what we shared as we played and grew up together.

That's what I should have said about Margaret.