Hoyden and I are about to admit knowing each other for a full decade, come August. This is a frightening concept, since I can remember when we first met and it was *not* ten years ago. It's closer to five, or maybe six. Ours is a classic love story; we met, we immediately moved in together, we grew annoyed by the other's idiosyncracies, we fought, we split up, we ignored each other for a year, we slowly got back together again and now we're bound together forever.

Did I mention this was college and we were two type-A roommates? We're lucky we didn't combust nor commit homicide. But now...now it's a bit different than it used to be.

She is someone who I'm completely whole with. Hoyden is my best friend, my sister, my soulmate (but not in the Dawson sense). We've already had our big fights and smoothed out our rough patches. We've come thru to the other side, where there's no question that anything and everything will be dropped at the other's beckon. We're family by choice, which is a precious thing in this world. Distance doesn't seperate us, different life choices give us talking points, and it all rests on a bedrock of love and for that, I'm eternally grateful.

I'll never see a string of christmas lights used as ambient lighting without remembering our place, I'll never cut out a snowflake without seeing them dangling from the ceiling, I can't hear ABBA, Billy Joel or Carry Newcomer without a mental shout-out to you, I *carefully* eat my cereal every morning, and I'll never hear baseball euphemisms without a grin.

I'll always know xylem, phloem, apical meristem and my different mangrove leaves because I had a great teacher. I will never drink black russians without (or with!) you and I'll remember that cognac/cigar incident with fond memories. And I will always enjoy the stories you tell of warm lands and warmer waters where marine biologists are meant to be.

So, Hoyden, this one's for you and for us and for ten years of greatness, and for the next sixty of getting better and better with age. Oh yes--I'm expecting us to live that long. And we will retire most definately by the sea.
And if they're lucky, the boys can live there too.