B is for Best Friends.

As kids, we believe that we can only have one "Best Friend" at a time. I have been fighting against this delusion for much of my life.

As an Air Force kid, I was always "the new girl." The one plopped into the class after friendships have been made and solidified. The one in the clique by herself when everyone else buddied up. It wasn't until sophomore year of high school that I really, truly learned what a best friend was. And it seemed as though everyone else had it wrong.

A Best Friend is not just someone you sit by in every class or call every evening. And you can most certainly have more than one.

My best friend is someone who, regardless of what is going on in her life, would always ask me how I was first and sincerely wanted to know the answer.

In the past few years, I've realized that my mom is my best friend. We have the same nutty sense of humor and the same compassionate heart.

I have a best friend who I've hardly seen. We forged our friendship over a year of rough waters, while she was in Phoenix and I was in Flagstaff.

A best friend is someone who sets aside 5 hours in her busy schedule so sit and sip coffee (and raid Justice: Just for Girls) so I'd felt like I'd done something that week.

And a best friend made me feel closer when I'd just moved to the other side of the globe. Ask me how that works...

These women are all my best friend, each in their own beautiful way. (And I'm sure I've missed some.) They each enrich my life and I am luckier to have all of them now, than to have ever had a partner in Earth Science class.