A 50 year celebration

Last year you may remember that I created a small journal that included a page I'd collaged, with a big birthday cake (bottom right corner below)

Last week I got the journal out, scanned a copy of it, gathered some supplies and changed it into a Happy 50th Birthday card for my oldest friend, Margaret.

I decided not to include the page on the left, She May Have Seen Better Days, just in case she was sensitive about turning the big 5-0.

Rose is her middle name, so I tore a margin in the collage and placed it over scrapbook paper covered with pink roses. 

I added more paper, a number "50", butterflies...

and some birthday candles and other doodles.

Here's how it looked when I mailed it off to Margaret.

I talked to her for a little while tonight, and she told me she'd really loved the card.

I never had a sister, and she was an only child, so we have always thought of each other something like sisters.  I was her Matron of Honor when she married.  She threw my baby shower when I had Ben.

She still lives where we grew up, still has both her parents living, and is a single mom.  She's worked in the same field for 30 years.

Our lives have definitely traveled different paths.

Margaret and I, at our high school, in 1982

In that photo, we'd been the best of friends for 6 years -- all through middle and high school.

Here's a photo of us the last time I saw her...in 2008.

We're overdue for a get-together, and I really look forward to it.

Soon I'll be 50, too, and I think that, and a 39 year friendship, is cause for celebration, don't you?

In case you haven't already, check out my most recent post for details on a huge giveaway!