Why Everyone Needs A Danielle

Today, Danielle, one of my best friends turns 30.
Yipee!
We met in grade four and became fast friends after we had a fight and I called to apologize so that she would invite me to her birthday party. We wore our gymnastic suits and danced around her basement with glow-in-the-dark necklaces to Cyndi Lauper.
Shameful.
She is one of the four people in my life that I can stand to talk with on the phone for more than two minutes. She is the reason I attempt backbends on the dance floor, and why I'd rather dance with girls (specifically her) than boys. She is why I belted out the lyrics to Les Miserables down the halls in grade nine, why I was ever M.V.P in basketball (she was always passing to me so that I could make the baskets), why I started University the same year I was married, why I've been to more then one art gallery. She has made me laugh so hard I've been in serious danger of peeing my pants (ok, so maybe I actually did). She's smart as a whip, has a great eye for interior decoration and is an amazing artist to boot.
She helped me paint my very first apartment when I was married and she helped me pack when I left my husband. She sent me notes while I was in labor and met India minutes after she was born. She offered wise and patient counsel during those frighteningly black days of the end of my marriage. She saw me through the first post-marriage boyfriend and laughs at my ridiculous dating dilemmas. She inspires sincerity in my faith and questioned the easy answers of my youth, when no one else did. She has at times, been the brunt of my embarrassing selfishness, my impatience, my impulsive mouth, and somehow, she forgives me and we remain friends.
I say with complete sincerity that she is the most generous person I know. I am often awed by her thoughtfulness and the way in which she loves people through action. When I was camping this last month, I saw an old woman looking at herself in the mirror, and for whatever reason, the thought came into my head that one day, Danielle and I will be that age together, looking at our wrinkled faces in the mirror, and of how blessed I am to have a friend that will know, out of remembrance, what my ten year old face looked like. I am so grateful for her presence in my life and I know, without question, that I am a better person because of her.
She is such a gift.

Happy birthday, dear friend.