Kristy: My Lifetime (minus 7 years) Love

Today my very good friend of 25 years is celebrating her birthday (actually it was November 27, but I have been so busy I am only posting this now;). I thought what better way to tell her how much she means to mean than by a ‘My Love’ dedication in my blog.

Kristy & I met in grade 2. I had already had my circle of friends and she was the new girl that we were reluctant to let in to our tight knit group. However, once she was in – she was in for good.

Kristy was very different from all the other girls I knew. She moved to my small town of Deux-Montagnes from Montreal – the big city. I never knew anyone my age that lived in the city. She also was the first person I met who’s parents were divorced. Her family dynamic was completely different from anything I had known. Her single mom worked hard to raise her as best she could with the unconditional love and support from her great-grandparents, who she also lived with. Her father was nowhere to be found and she hardly even knew him. He abandoned her and her mom the day Kristy was born. It is amazing how even then – a few hours old, moments such as these can dictate the person you will become. For Kristy was born independent .

It wasn’t long before her family, as unordinary as I thought they were at first, adopted me as one of their own, as my family did for Kristy. It was years before I learned the names of her grandparents as to me they were always Oma & Opa. And because Kristy’s mother had her at young age, she dressed and acted a lot different from our mom’s and we all thought she was so cool.  As different as her family dynamic was from mine, one thing remained the same: we were both well loved.

We traveled much of our young lives walking side by side. It was with Kristy that I experienced my first kiss, my first drink, my first love and my first heartache. Together, we went on our first real adventure back-packing through Europe.

Our bond grew tighter as life got more complicated. When my parents divorced, it was Kristy who brought me hope. Hope that a family can still give love, even though it has been shattered.

Kristy never complained about her situation.  Instead of feeling sorry for herself for not having a father in her life, she felt blessed for having a wonderful great-grandfather. A great-grandfather that raised her like the daughter he never had. She also felt blessed to not only have a great relationship with her mother, but have an amazing relationship with her great-grandmother as well.

Six years ago, Kristy became a mother herself. From that day forward, everyday has been devoted to her two boys, Corey & Kayden. They are her world as she is theirs. She realizes today, that she may not have had much growing up as a child but she did have much more than many. She had love. As Kristy works hard everyday to provide for her children, she knows aside from the toys and cool clothes, that the boys will forever have her unconditional love.

Recently, Kristy was betrayed by a man she deeply loved forcing her to relive an experience much too familiar. Kristy suddenly found herself thrown into single parenthood with no one to rely on but herself. Her days begin at the crack of dawn and don’t stop until she sits down for dinner at 9 o’clock at night. Her evenings are spent running from daycares, making dinner’s, lunches, doing homework, drawing baths and reading bedtime stories. Time for herself has become non-existent as she struggles being a full time working-woman and full time mom. After all of this, not once have I heard her complain about her life.

Kristy is a remarkable woman that amazes me everyday. I am amazed at the energy she finds, deep within herself. I am amazed at the love she gives. After all the betrayal and hurt, she still has unlimited love to give to her family, her friends and especially her children. And I am amazed at her strength. It takes a lot for someone to get up every morning already exhausted, knowing that it will be another struggle to fit all you have to do in the few hours the day provides. But she does it. Kristy gets up every morning, throwing herself into the rat race. Not for herself; but for the two beautiful boys sleeping in the next room.

As for me, I am blessed to call this amazing woman & role model, my lifetime friend.