Happy Birthday Shar!

With just minutes to spare on this Friday the 13th, I am wishing my friend, Sharlene a very Happy Birthday! And in retribution for the birthday blog that she posted for me, I will now post some slightly embarrassing photos of the birthday girl.

One of the greatest things about Sharlene is her great attitude and sense of humor. She is so fun to tease, and therefore, her friends pull pranks on her a lot. (Or at least we used to.) When were were teenagers, the boys at church often toilet papered her house because it was fun to see her get all riled up about how the "homeowner's association was going to put a lien" on her house! I am cracking up just thinking about how she said it. Back then, we called her "Chuck". I think she hated it at first, but eventually embraced it because she is just good-natured that way.

Shar is one of the strongest people I know and I have always admired her fearlessness. She is so brave when it comes to trying new things. If there is a task ahead of her, she just goes for it. It's an amazing thing to behold. She has been able to accomplish so much in her life because not-only is she brilliant but she also has the guts to go for what she wants. And she'll try just about anything. Her talents are so broad and varied. I mean what other intellectual properties attorney can cook and sew? Do you know anyone else who has spent years doing social work, including managing a battered women's shelter, and ALSO trained beauty pageant contestants? I think not. Oh, and she plays the violin and was on the fencing team in college! ( I thought for SURE I had a picture of that, but I can't find it anywhere.)
Shar is a very persuasive person. She has talked me into a lot of smart things in life including going to BYU and being her roommate.

Shar is the best cheerleader and a very supportive friend. For example, she drove from Utah to Texas with me when I moved back home. And when my dad died, she caught the next flight to be with my family.

Sharlene is probably the most generous person I've ever known. Without hesitation, she is always giving and sharing whatever she has. In high school, I would go to her house and borrow stacks of clothing. She wore a uniform to private school, but she had the best clothes and so she always let me borrow them! She even let me borrow this prom dress:

Sharlene's generosity paired with her impulsiveness, sometimes makes for funny gifts. Like this one: That is Jackson. The dog that Sharlene gave me for my 22nd (?) birthday. I had often said that I couldn't wait until I had a house and a dog, so Sharlene showed up at my work with this dog that she adopted from the animal shelter for me. Unfortunately, the dog was psychotic. It would sneeze nonstop and was obsessed with eating paper. Seriously, you couldn't leave paper around or he'd gobble it up. And you had to keep the bathroom door closed or he'd eat a roll of toilet paper. Many times when he would poop, it would just be this white recycled paper poop. I had to give him away when I moved back to Texas and the family that took him in reported that Jackson liked to eat the crotch out of the kids' underwear and once ate an entire birthday cake.
Shar is the kind of friend that you can completely be yourself with. We've been friends for more than 18 years now. (How crazy is that??) Back then we used to drive around in her big brown truck, rent movies, play Tetris, sing duets of country songs, talk about our crushes and just be silly. Now she is an accomplished attorney, a military wife, and a fantastic mother-of-three. Lots of things have changed over the last 2 decades, but Shar is still the fun, generous, kind-hearted friend that I can talk to about anything and everything.
Happy Birthday, Shar!!