That’s 13 years of friendship in that photo. My friend Keri and I met as 15- and 16-year-olds at a group of high school classes for homeschooled students. (Have I ever mentioned that? I was homeschooled K-12.) Few friendships shaped me the way this one has. Keri told me not to be afraid, then showed me I was much stronger than I thought I was. She liked, I mean really liked, things about me that I always thought were awkward. She taught me how to eat a grapefruit and to swoon over Heath Ledger. I taught her Pride and Prejudice was worth watching over and over again and that emotions were OK and let her spend the night a lot of the nights while her parents were separating. She met her husband. She got married. I met my husband. I got married. She had a baby girl. I moved to California. Then she came to visit me and for four days we were joined at the hip again. I love her.

(We also looked at this photo together later and noticed we have eye wrinkles starting! After a little talk and a lot of giggling, we decided we’re ok with it. This is what getting older together looks like.)

We went to the beach. Keri came to visit me the very last weekend she was allowed to travel before giving birth to her second child. He was a boy and he’s only the cutest.

We spent a day in the city and saw the bridge, shopped around Hayes Valley, and went to Tartine for lunch and the most perfect salted chocolate rye cookie. We ate it while we looked at pictures of Keri’s girl because we can’t get enough of her.

Not pictured: The holding one another while we started watching Downton Abbey again after THAT episode; neither of us were brave enough of on our own. The purchasing of bread, cheese, olives, trail mix, plain nuts, chocolate bars, chocolate covered almonds, and various other snack foods for our trip to the beach–foods we never ate until we were home and sitting around looking at more pictures of her girl. The eating of amazing tacos in a taqueria that took up one half of a gas station in Pescadero while talking about how our marriages are hard and good and change us.