On Your Forty-fifth Birthday

The magic of a best friend

It was through games I knew you best. Not the kind that other people play, toying with each other. The kind we played, together, in our houses and in the woods. In the car sometimes, or maybe even in a store, to my terrible embarrassment. See I knew myself best that way, too, even if it took me a while to own up to it.

Your mom was like my second mom, an…