In high school, Sherra and I were what you called “vertically challenged” – meaning, we were among the shortest on the campus of a couple of thousand kids. So, for Christmas, I had shirts made that read “Short but Deadly.” I’m not so sure what was so “deadly” about us, but it made us happy – and that’s all that mattered.
Sherra and I met our Junior year of High School, and her family moved out of McAllen within the next year. I hadn’t seen or talked to her in years, until Facebook came on the scene and we had a class reunion. Even though she lives in North Texas now, she knows when she comes to the Valley, she has a “home” to come to, as weird as it may be.
Last October, we had to do one of the hardest things our friendship has ever endured. We had to bury another friend from high school. Just weeks before his death, we had all three been together cooking a dinner, laughing about old times, and here we were a few months later, with Sherra making the road trip back to my house, only to sit in the same room and try to make sense out of his death. Sherra, along Tammy and Judy and my family, got me through that weekend. I was so grateful she was here.
Today is your birthday Sherra - and it’s a milestone birthday as well!!!! This is my birthday message to you Sherra: I know you have walked through some pretty rough stuff in your life (who hasn’t?) but you have come through it with integrity and grace. You are on my website today because you are one of the people in my life that makes me want to be a better person. It doesn’t matter how far apart or how often we do or do not talk to each other - each conversation picks up where the last one left off. I love you for your ability to accept people unconditionally and the ability to reason things out rationally (okay… well eventually we get to “rational.”) Your laughter is music and your attitude about life is exceptional! Happy Birthday Shorty! I love you! You are my hero today– and I want to be like you when I grow up!
