“Friends are a strange, volatile, contradictory, yet sticky phenomenon. They are made, crafted, shaped, molded, created by focused effort and intent. And yet, true friendship, once recognized, in its essence is effortless. Best friends are formed by time. Stick around long enough to become someone’s best friend.” -Vera Nazarian

When I was 12 years old I moved to Burbank, California. I had spent the entirety of my young life in show business traveling the country with my family. And, so…at this specific time in my life- “normal” sounded appealing. My parents, sensing my urge to ground, enrolled me into John Muir Middle School to enter the 7th grade. I knew no one and I still reminisce the terror in my heart on the first day of school. Being a pre-teen sucked. But, being a pre-teen without a single real friend, that was really challenging (to say the least). I was a girl-child in need of a friend.

It was in this year that I met Stephanie. And, she became my first “real” friend. She was the first person I ever had a “real” sleepover with and she became the first person, outside of my own blood, that felt like family. Stephanie and I had fun together and being friends was always so easy…

Stephanie and I have seen each other through many firsts, some lasts and a whole lot of milestones:

We more than survived adolescence, we lived it up:

And, before long (as cliche as it may sound) I found my “Soul Sisters”… We’ve supported each other through challenges of love, loss, births and rebirths :

We have all shape shifted into our adult selves (sometimes gracefully and sometimes with the much needed assistance of our girlfriends):

But, even back then we knew we had something unique… Just Like Sisters:

There is not a single person in the whole wide world i laugh harder with than my Best Friend, Stephanie…

And, that laughter has been medicinal…

It has opened my heart, re-opened my heart and done so some more….

For all (or most) of the last 10 years Stephanie and I have not lived in the same city. But, we are living, growing and loving (together) in so many ways. Distance has not distanced us…

Celebrating & EN-JOYING Life Together, is “our thing”. And she became family, to my entire family. She is a part of our “Soul Group” and she is our family:

To me, our friendship is sacred. It is based on a foundation of unconditional love and so, because of that, it has withheld the natural evolution of our individual selves. And, we’ve always found a way to reunite…
in Los Angeles:

or San Francisco:

Reaffirming our commitment to each other on an island in Hawaii:

or on long-ass road trips stopping in random recreation sites…

Short visits to Hawaii (a couple more times):

And, most recently, a mini-retreat in Palm Springs:

As we ripen… it only gets better! And, what an honor it will be to stand by you, in support & love, as you marry a man so worthy of your life, love and affection:

My Best Friend grounds me…

She lifts me…

She loves, loving, life with me…

And she loves me…Unconditionally.

So goes the saying… “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. I call her my best friend, my sister, a true partner in life. But, none of that really matters more than the love we share. Because, that speaks volumes over any name. Thank you for nearly 17 years of the best friendship I could have ever dreamed of…

Stephanie and I have evolved and so has our friendship. We have seen each other through some of the most challenging times in both of our lives but, we supported each other through those times without judgment. We have nurtured and energized (when needed) and together, we have learned how to give worth to this thing we have built. WE MAKE TIME FOR OUR FRIENDSHIP, by treating it like a partnership… and that is why we are still together. For me, the root of this particular friendship is something of a wonderful-thing. In it… i reminisce, the essence of a girl-child longing for a friend, and I reflect….Oh how loudly my lonesome heart was heard… the day I met my best friend.

Today, I send gratitude out to my very sweetest, most cherished & eternal friend… Stephanie Janine Lau. You have brightened my world since the moment we met and you continue to be loved beyond measure. You are a genuine gift to the world and all who are blessed to know you. Thank you for sharing life with me! Happy Happy Birth my sister, mi amore…

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