This week we experienced a momentous day in the world of our tribe:

My girl got to meet our newest member.

Who is this new, beloved boy, you ask? Well, I will tell you.

***

In my Junior year of High School I became best friends with a girl with the biggest smile and an even bigger heart.

She has been there for me, as an integral part of my existence, ever since.

Freshman year of college, I visited her and we went to a party (at my husband’s frat house when he was in it, actually) and did an ice luge. Ugh.

Months later she came to my college as a surprise for my birthday, wearing a bow, as I was expecting to have brunch with my visiting parents, and got her presence as a present instead!

We both told each other when we met our husbands, who were then just crushes, and she was the first person whom I told that I loved mine,

even before I told him.

We stood next to each other at each of our weddings, both times with tears of joy in our eyes.

We have had dance parties, cuddled up for hours while holding hands & lost in deep conversation, vacationed to the beach and, once, she fed me leftover short ribs with her bare hands straight from the fridge.

We did a lot of growing up together.

And then, I became a mommy, almost six years ago.

When my water broke, my friend and her husband rushed home from Long Island and were the first friends to hold her on the day she was born.

Later, they became her Godparents, with a note written to them on a napkin as we all shared a big, greasy brunch at a local cafe.

Since then, they have had the most incredible relationship with my daughter.

They have held her, rocked her, treated her to strawberry gum and been beanboozled. Last year, they even dressed as Fred and Shaggy for her Scooby Doo themed birthday party.

I want to say something else that is very important for me to mention:

I am so lucky that all of my best friends have awesomely close and special and unique relationships with my kids; some they call “aunt” and “uncle” and consider their children to be their cousins; some live far away and my children love nothing more than when they come for “sleepovers”; some are simply right around the corner, always there to kiss boo boos, give hugs and provide support to them (and to their parents).

This is my tribe.

And last month, we welcomed our newest member, when my Junior Year of High School bestie became a mother.

She has had years of practice, as there are stories of her growing bond with my children woven all throughout the tapestry of this blog.

I was so honored to find out that during her labor, she had made a book of positive images to help her through the pain, and in it she had placed many photos of my kids.

And so, when her son was born and she officially became a mama, it was as if she stepped into shoes that she was meant to wear all along. She is a natural; poised, calm, kind…she is perfect.

This is what she was born to do.

It is so moving for me to watch.

Sometimes, a little too moving. At the Bris ceremony I–how do I best say this?–lost control of my emotions and sobbed, as quietly as I could, as I watched in awe. But by sobbed I mean I sobbed. After the bris was done, the Mohel came over to me and asked, “Are you OK? You cried more than the baby!”

I just care so much.

But nothing, nothing, compared to the day when our children got to meet.

Since my daughter first found out that her Godmother was pregnant, she has been obsessed with the baby. To her, this is family. Probably because that is who they are to me; to us.

And so earlier this week, my bestie and I reached a new milestone, one that is bigger than the Bachelorette parties and the New Years kisses and even the “You may kiss the bride!”s.

On that day, my daughter held her son.

And with that, there were no more words.

 #friendshipisthickerthanblood