A random selection of some of my relationships

Rachel: Our husbands have been friends since childhood but Rachel & I see each other more often than they do. She's my movie/music/book/food friend. We have similar tastes in each of those categories and I always know that I'll enjoy whatever she recommends. We love seeing small independent films, reading anything & everything, eating good food, burning each other cd's of some cool new artist and then discussing all of those things repeatedly.

Miss Mikel: Most of my kids' preschool teacher. I came across Mikel by chance but am happy to now call her a good friend, too. Mikel won me over as a teacher when I saw her emerge from one preschool session dressed as the Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom tree -- dressed in brown and green, paper palm fronds shooting up over her head and letters taped all over her body. The woman sews amazing children's clothing and will be a nurse someday soon. She's amazing.

"Joe": K, that's probably not his name but he is the sweetest drive-up window worker guy that I've ever met. He works at Corner 22 and fills up my Diet Coke refills on a regular basis. He's a young'ish kid and he's learned how to be sweet and polite to older'ish ladies like me.

Steph: Everyone who is friends with Steph thinks that they are her BFF. She just makes everyone feel that way. She's always looking out for others, always serving them, calling to check up on, offering to help in some way, organizing fun activities .... If we talk about going to the zoo or something, Steph will call the entire neighborhood and invite them because she doesn't want anyone to feel left out. Ever. She's an amazing woman/person/friend and I want to be more like her.

The entire staff at Dr. Adrian's office: I really love my dentist, partly because I love everyone in his office so much. Not only did they take me to San Francisco to be their sample patient at a seminar (twice), but every time I walk into their office I feel like they are genuinely happy to see me. I even bake them cookies from time to time. Love them all.

Miss Becky: Elle's favorite dance teacher. Becky has a way of relating to little girls and not being frustrated by their current lack of ability to focus. Elle adores her. She's English, too, which makes me love her - just because.

KK: My kids have never actually called my sister by her real name -- she'll always be KK. Kelly is my sibling who always knows more than me about technology, particularly blogs and iPhones. I frequently call her with random "How do you do...?" kind of questions. With one sister out-of-state, I'm extraordinarily grateful that KK is still here. She's always game for a late movie or to meet at the pool.