vivi at vee vee's (lyn)

Vivien and I became best friends sometime in junior high.  We even shared a joint 16^th birthday party together, both of us wearing multi-colored tent dresses, the fashion of the times.

We were roommates at BU, before we both transferred...she to Simmons and me to Tufts.

1972

Vivien was a bridesmaid at my wedding; she knew it was doomed when I coughed my way through the I Do’s.

Vivien, and my sisters Jean and Valerie, August 27, 1977

 We played together in Boston.

Fanneuil Hall, Thanksgiving 1978

 She's been to all the important events in my life, including my 40th birthday...

Vivien at my surprise 40ieth, standing directly to my left.

And Alexander's Bar Mitzvah.

Meredtih, Vivien, and my sister Jean, November 12, 2005

Vivien knows me like no one else.

Tonight Vivien takes me to dinner at Vee Vee’s, a bistro in Jamaica Plain.   Because we know each other so well, we rarely focus on what we do, but rather what we feel….about our children (we each have one), our work or lack of it, our relationships, and each other.  It is a warm friendship spanning almost 50 years.

Vivien is a child of Europeans, and has lived all over the world.  She is the least conventional person I know, despite her having steady jobs and a long, happy marriage.  Her perspective of life is always intriguing.

Vivien and I are different in the way we live our lives.  Different in our interests.  Different in our sensibilities.  But there is a bond, having come from the same city and having shared so many experiences.  My most wild adventures have been with Vivien, as well as my most humbling ones.  When I was falling apart in 2006, it was Vivien who checked in with me every single day. 

Over dinner, Vivien surprises me by saying that it’s taken her a while to accept that she is not my best friend anymore.  I think about this a lot.  And while it’s true that I see others more, my relationship with Vivien is like no other. 

I feel truly blessed that I grew up with Vivi and that today she is still a vibrant and important person in my life.  She is a part of who I became, and who I am still becoming.

October 20, 2012