To my oldest friend:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HILARY!!!!!!!!!!!

Today is the 25th birthday of my oldest and truest friend in the whole world, this lovely lady on the right:

Let me tell you a little story about me and Hilary:

Our parents bought houses next door to each other right around the same time, and coincidentally, our mothers both happened to be pregnant.  Hilary and I were born in the same hospital one week apart (yup, my birthday is next week!). So literally, I've known this girl since THE DAY I was born! We grew up together, and lived next door to one another for 20 years. Her home was my second home, her family my second family. We scooted around in play pens together, spent half our youth climbing her apple tree, put on "kid concerts," had countless sleepovers and Super Nintendo Donkey Kong competitions, gossiped about boys, shared classes, teachers and homework from kindergarten through senior year... I could make a list a mile long of everything I've shared with Hil.

I can say this with no reservation: Hilary is without a doubt the most fiercely loyal, caring, wonderful person anyone could ever hope to have in his or her life. She and I couldn't possibly be any more different from one another (She's loud and outgoing, I'm quiet and shy. She was Ms. Popularity through school, I spent lunches in the chem lab. She lives an exciting, high-speed kind of life, I'm usually home on my couch on Friday nights.), but that couldn't matter any less. She's at the very top of the list of people that I KNOW, without a doubt, would be there for me at the drop of a hat no matter what. I hope she knows I would do the same for her. We're lifelong friends, and nothing can ever change that.

So to the girl who I've known and loved for a whole quarter of a century now, who's been with me from my first day to my wedding day and beyond (did I mention she's a super awesome wedding coordinator at a hotel in SJ and that she planned me the most perfect wedding in the history of time?): HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! Here's to the next 25 years of friendship!

The Tyler Ave. clan- 25 years from the beginning!