But most importantly, it is home to one of my good, long-time friends. We've been friends since we were 8. She's in grad school, getting a joint business/law degree.

Whenever I feel like going back to school, I just remember her hours and hours of homework and exams....

While I'm here, my husband is in North Carolina. It's the week of our first anniversary. We'll spend the actual day packing up our apartment. But that's not really the point of my entry.

The point...the point being...I like my friend. I haven't found another friend like her since "becoming an adult." She and I just fit together. It must come with the process of being casual-friends and not-really-friends and best-friends over seventeen years.

I guess we're crockpot friends. (Not crackpot. Well...that's debatable.)

The crackpot is usually me. Take tonight. After we'd wined, dined, and ice-creamed, she grabbed my suitcase from the car to bring it in.

I stuffed things into my backpack. "Hmm, my African folktales on CD," I thought. "I wonder if there are any with business-related principles she would appreciate with her foreign policy class."

I kept walking up the long driveway toward her house. She held the front door open. My mind still on Africa, short stories, understanding culture through literature, etc etc...

My nose and forehead hit something. Something hard and glass. As in the glass front door...not the solid one she was holding open for me

Had I noticed it? No, not really. I just thought my eyes were foggy (a 6 hour drive does that to a person).

"I thought you were joking that you were going to run into the door," she said between laughs.

I felt my wounded nose for blood (none, unfortunately) and wiped the tears from my eyes. My friend's roommate peered over the second floor bannister. "You ok?"

We could hardly answer we were laughing so hard.

And then it all rushed back to me...the superman shirt incident, high-kicking and landing on my butt, mispronouncing Sean Bean's name ("seen been")....

All stories we've lived together that seasoned our crockpot friendship.