My best friend Bonnie and I have been kindred spirits for more than thirty years. We haven't lived in the same state since 1985 but it hasn't hurt our friendship at all, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Sometimes we only get to see each other once a year, sometimes not even that much and who knows, maybe that's one of the reasons we get along so fiercely well. I love her dearly, and twenty-five years ago, when she met the man of her dreams, I was thrilled and honored to be in their wedding.

This weekend, she and John threw a big, beautiful vow renewal pool party for their twenty-fifth anniversary, and so we headed out of state because there was no way in the world I would have missed it.

We hit wild traffic down around DC but gave ourselves plenty of time to get there, and when we pulled up, she ran out of the house and I scrambled out of the car and:



Pure joy.

Their house is lovely, with attention to every detail and most importantly (since it was HOT at what, 90 degrees?) air-conditioned! And it was so much fun to reconnect with John's family, trade teasing insults with his brother Rob who was also in the original wedding, and meet so many funny, friendly new people. (Hi, Suzi, Karen and Judy!) But first Bonnie gave me two beautiful gifts commemorating our thirtieth year of friendship, and I gave her some Anne kindred spirits pieces from PEI, only one of them got broken on the way down which was really irritating. Luckily, Bonnie has a soddering gun!



And so we wandered outside past the sparkling pool to the one of the tents set up with twinkle lights and starting getting reacquainted with Dan, Carol and John (blue tank) the groom:



John's mom and her husband John were in charge of the musical entertainment and did a fabulous job, and so the chattering began:



John the groom, who picked up his Masters degree this year, is a stellar public speaker and the king of finessed networking.

 
Me and Stew my boyfriend, after eating some of the delicious catered food and drinking a Mojito or two.

And then came time for the vow renewal which was heartbreakingly beautiful, funny, sweet and perfect because they wrote their own vows and made us all cry:





And then they made a toast to all of us for being a part of their lives which was lovely, and me and Rob and Carol got to hand out meade (which was delicious) for the toast, and then it was back to the pool party and the buffet.

Bonnie is a brilliant, talented woman who is determined to make all of her dreams come true, and she's excellent at making it happen. She used to manage Peter Tork -- of The Monkees and currently the band Shoe Suede Blues fame -- and it was a delight to meet him again, and to meet AJ from SSB and Pam for the first time.





We're trading autographs. I'm signing HOW IT ENDS for Pam's daughter Misha and Peter's signing an album, pick guard and a SSB CD for us. Fun!



And then we got AJ from Shoe Suede Blues in on the autograph and photo-fest





and then we took even more

 
with Bonnie's sister-in-law Veronica, and (below) me and Pam who is also a singer (all this vocal talent is amazing)



and then it was time to dance and celebrate some more, and Bonnie's neighbor Raedelle (who has a gorgeous voice and sings with Patrick Lundy & The Ministers of Music and has a new CD out entitled DETERMINED, and I am a huge fan of her talent) sang Inseparable for Bonnie and John to dance to, and it was just beautiful. Then she sang for us, too.



and so we danced

 
and had a blast until the night wore away, and it was time to help clean up and head back to the hotel.

It was a beautiful, touching, joyous party. I wish Bonnie and John another twenty-five glorious years, at the very least. They're headed out on a wonderful cruise for their anniversary, and I hope it's the best one, ever. You guys inspire me, have always been there for me and I love you.

Happy Anniversary, my forever friend.