Day off...

I have today off....It has been one of those weeks that I just couldn't wait to get out of work...
Even though i am currently sitting on my deck typing this in the sun that has finally come out of hiding I am a bit sad...
You see I took today off because someone was supposed to come up for the weekend and visit me..
someone who I have known for a million (okay 21) years...
someone who went through the awkward adolescent stages with me.
Someone who's mother and father I know as well as my own (her dad actually holds the title as the only other father figure other than my own dad that I call dad...isn't that odd...lots of friends mom's have always been called mom but no one else's dad)...
We used to walk through the woods, sneak cigarettes, deal with first boyfriends, first kisses, first break ups, broken hearts..
We have dealt with growing apart with different groups of friends entirely, having nothing in common for a few years and grown back together to be thick as thieves
We graduated from high school together, dealt with moving to colleges that were light years apart, talking religiously once a week, played phone tag to get in touch with each other and always saw each other the first night I was home from college for any kind of vacations.
She was the person I called when i met hubby and told her that I had met the man I was going to marry, and she was the one who bolstered my spirits when I thought that we would only ever just be friends.
She was the first one I called when he proposed, even though it was eleven thirty at night and I knew she had to be up early the next day.
I was the first one she would call when her mom or dad were in the hospital for various health issues, we cried together when we thought it would be the end for one of them, and breathed a collective sigh of relief when the crisis was averted.
When she got married, I was the one she called to help her plan the wedding, and when she turned into bridezilla I was the one who did what she asked and took the brunt of it and several weeks later had a very angry conversation with her about the way she acted towards everyone that day.  We cried together and made up.
I was the first one she called when she found out she was pregnant with her precious little girl after a year of trying and the first one to get a picture when she was born...
She is the one I call when once again I don't get pregnant in a month and she is the support that I need when I want to throw in the towel.
Her baby girl, who is now three, is the most precious child and talks to me in her gibberish on the phone and I cry when I know that I am missing her growing up....
I am the one who can spoil both of them with care packages because I know that money is tight and she knows that i only do it cause I love them and not because I expect anything in return.
We had the whole weekend planned, they were going to drive up with her hubby last night and spend the weekend enjoying Maine.  Beaches, lobsters, a whale watch.  Completed by sitting out each night on the back porch enjoying having this person who is so much a part of my soul being in my space and seeing how I live.  Life got in the way, a broken hot water heater and other expenses happened and I wasn't able to find a cheap enough flight or bus or train to get her here.  She didn't want to tell me because she thought I'd be mad...I told her i wasn't mad, just disappointed.
She called me earlier today to chat because we both had the day off in anticipation of seeing each other.  Sometimes life gets in the way....but today...as I sit on my porch wishing I was waiting for the call that they were getting off the exit on the interstate and will be here in ten minutes, my heart hurts and my soul is crying a bit for the hug of a friend who's been there forever but is so far away.