Let me tell you about Heidi, my bff. I met her at Starbucks – one of my favorite places to spend time: good coffee;  a public place where people are there, yet inconspicuous; a place just to be. 

Heidi hosted Knitting Club at Starbucks on Wednesday nights, and I wanted to learn to knit. Jillian kept insisting for a year that I go to Knitting Club at Starbucks, but life kept getting in the way of my intentions.

Then one stormy Wednesday evening, I went to Knitting Club in spite of the rain, or maybe because of it. Heidi was sitting in the huge corner chair next to Gus.

One of Heidi’s Creations

I wasn’t sure if they were the knitters – Gus threw me off the trail – but they pulled out their needles and started to knit. Gus was working on a scarf that took him a year to finish. I don’t remember what Heidi was knitting, but I know it was amazing because she is a stitch wizard and has created the most beautiful pieces.

Heidi and I clicked. We were two old souls who had known each other since the dawn of time – and it was like we reconnected after several lifetimes of being apart. She filled a hole in my soul that had been there since Katrina.

I did learn to knit, although very slowly and methodically. It still takes me much longer to knit than to crochet. Heidi is such a patient teacher!

We had a lot of fun those Wednesday nights – knitting and talking, or knitting and being our goofy selves. Sometimes we didn’t do anything but knit.

Heidi’s favorite color is green. Mine is brown. She said one day that we would make a good tree. (She’s a tree person, too.) One night a poem came to me in a dream about our tree.

Heidi and me
Up in the tree
Peering down
At green and brown.

“Come down!” friends shout.
“Time to come out!”
“No, thanks,” we say.
“We think we’ll stay
Up in the tree.
Just let us be.”

And to this day
Always we stay:
Green and brown
Peering down.

And then time did what it always seems to do – it passed and got away from me. That dastardly rogue Time! One day, I left Louisiana to work overseas, but Heidi has remained my bff. She even knitted me a pair of Traveling Socks to keep me connected to my real world, my real people.

Knitting has made me feel at home – even when I’m on a strange continent where wool scarves are never worn, unless in an air-conditioned building while wearing a tank top. It brings me home when I need to be there.

Today is Heidi’s birthday – and though I am unable to see her, I want the world to know about how much her friendship has meant to me.

I love you, Heidi Sue – HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!