Gina Marlowe Hunter: a clusterfuck of wonderful.

Today is not about food. Yes, it's Friday and yes therefore in the viral universe of "Ice Cream For Breakfast" it is food for thought. But today, something grander happened: Gina Marlowe Hunter was born.

I'll say no to a lot of things just to hang out with Gina: class (more times than I would like to admit), homework, reading, the gym, etc. etc. And today, again, I'm saying no to food and well, making you come along and hang out with Gina for the next couple of paragraphs.

The day I left for college, no, the day I was accepted to San Diego State, my mother began praying. She told me she was praying everyday for I to have a lovely, sweet roommate in the dorms. Of course, my mother was more afraid about the whole bunking with a complete stranger than I was..but she prayed on.

Gina, to my mother, is her pray, embodied in a feisty, spunky, lovable girl. For that, she will always be so very special to my mother.

But as for me, it's hard to put a word to it, let alone, several. I knew this birthday blogcard would be difficult because when is it ever easy to talk about a best friend-as an adult?

Best friends when we're young are sacred and held next to our hearts in chains with "B.F.F" embossed in diamonds. We hold hands with them in elementary school, wrap our arms around each other's necks in middle school, and in high school we hug them. But as we leave the safe confounds of our school years and enter into the first taste of independence and of important choices, it's hard to hold onto the small things that matter to us.

Rent, bills, tuition, books, books, jobs, homework, essays, finals, and merely keeping our GPA up is what takes priority. Granted as freshmen we learn the hard way to understanding these priorities, but making any friends is our top priority. Still "fresh" from our comforting lifestyles in our hometowns, we know that our friends are everything, but where to find them on a vast, diverse campus?

Everyone is playing the lotto, and I hit the Mega Jackpot.

I picked my numbers (answering a roommate placement questionnaire) and held onto my ticket. The wheel turned and the balls fell. Each number lining up to my ticket-I hit Gina.

And my winnings leave me speechless.

Gina is clusterfuck of wonderful things. It's honestly one of the best ways I can describe her character, her nature of pure awesomeness.

You meet Gina and she tricks you-she seems normal. She seems easy-going-mellow kind of gal. But all tricks-nothing but a bunch of smoke and mirrors.

Gina is not normal. The other qualities of easy-going and mellowness, yeah, that's true, but not without the real gritty truth-Gina is 110% a nerd. A child nerd-to be more precise. The 8-year-old spunk of a tomboy has not left her. Gina will kick, crawl, army-crawl, skip, jump, cartwheel her way to you versus walking. Barefoot too. That's how she really gets into your heart-you have so much fun watching her do it that you never think twice about letting her.

It is one of the most natural occurrences of my life-loving Gina.

One night we laughed, and I would never be the same again.

I said goodbye to many things when I left to San Diego. Broken-hearted in more ways than one, I moved to San Diego with a heaviness. Laughing with Gina one random September night in 2005 about my package of sliced potatoes, I left it all-my weight, my aches, my pains. From then on, each day only got better. And each year.

In college you find your best friend(s) in a very organic way. I hate to sound so pretentious (trust me Gina would kill me or just pinch me if I ever sound pretentious) but something about the environment in college, makes the development of friendships different-stronger. Gina has seen the worse of me, and I of her. Gina has seen the best as well, and has seen mistakes that lead to bigger consequences. The game of Life becoming more prevalent to each one of us as we grow older in it.

Gina's signature is on my college degree. Next to the Dean of the English department and President Weber.

Gina Marlowe Hunter

Best Friend, San Diego State University

She's on my resume.

She will be on my wedding invitation.

On my children's birth certificates.

On my life insurance papers.

On my first home owner's deed.

On my published novels.

Gina will be on some very important papers. She has to be. She's my person.

Happy Birthday friend of forever and ever.

Loving every bit of you since '05 and going strong...