Today is the birthday of my dear friend Emily
Who deserves so much more than a poorly written poem
That doesn’t even rhyme 
Or have iambic pentameter 
So I sent her flowers
But I wish I could give her
All the dogs
And all the books
And all the sweets
Because Emily loves pit bulls
And Emily loves cozy mysteries
And Emily loves lemon cheesecake and Reese’s 
And that is partly why
Emily is my friend

But she is also the best listener I know
And always has the wisest words
Things like 
“matters of the heart are often complicated”
And “Kroger has our bread on sale”
This is pertinent information 
And she is wise beyond her years
If she hadn’t bought a purple collar with daisies on it
We may have never truly met
But I had just gotten one for my goat
Who was named Daisy
And I opened my big mouth and told her so

And ever since then
We have chattered about dogs and books and ailing mommas
We have shared stories about crazy friends
And their boyfriends and husbands and sisters and children
And tattoos and cows and hot air balloons 
(I have no personal experience with hot air balloons, that’s all Emily)
There is never any shortage of hysterical animal videos between us
Sometimes 
You never see a friend 
But you know they’re right there
Ready to put a hand on your back
Sometimes 
They put their hand in yours
And pull you back
Happy Birthday my sweet friend ❤️

I really really wanted to share some Aerosmith lyrics here, since Steven Tyler is her hero, but Aerosmith songs are A. Really melodramatic and B. Not really poetry so I had to go a different route.

Love from Appalachia,

~Amy