There are best friends. The ones you meet in college and at work and at book club. And then there are best friends. The ones who’ve been by your side so long you simply can’t remember them not being there.
Tracy is that kind of friend. The one who had the best birthday parties growing up, with slumber parties to see “Home Alone” and hayrides and hot chocolate afteward. The one whose name is scribbled with “LYLAS” all over notes stuffed into shoe boxes in my bedroom closet. My college roommate when I came back to our dorm, breathless, telling her the story about how “Tracy, there’sthisguy… andhisnameisNickand…and….andIthinkI’mgoingtomarryhim!!!” The one who listened when my grandpa died two years ago, doing what best friends instinctively know to do. Showing up to wrap their arms around you, telling you how very sorry they are and giving you the comfort you didn’t know you needed until that very moment.
She is pregnant now and I’ve never known her to be happier. We have decades of history together and I couldn’t be more excited for the years that are to come. I’ve listened to her share stories about this wild ride leading up to motherhood and I’ve loved every one of them—surreal though they are—because it reminds me of a time not too long ago when we sat on one another’s pink bedspreads and played M.A.S.H. and talked about what we’d name our kids some day.
That some day is here. And I feel blessed that she’s letting me document this baby’s impending arrival. Baby Gorjup, I can’t wait to meet you!
Anticipation. 
I don’t know what was being said here, but I can just hear Tracy saying, “Oh Kevin…” 
Tracy keeps reminding me to remind her how much she needs to get some large prints made of her wedding photos. To which I say, can we add this one to the list? LOVE 
If you were to ask me to take a picture that best personifies my best friend I would say I could do no better than this shot right here. It makes me miss her. Lots. 
Tracy and I have a mutual love of too many chick flicks to count (her last birthday card to me was a “Sixteen Candles” card with that infamous Jake and Samantha on the table with the birthday candles scene. It played a Thompson Twin song too…see, I told you she’s the best 
) Anyway, we both love “Family Stone” and talk a lot about the kind of photos that, some day, your children are going to cherish forever like that the one of Sybil at the end of the movie (you know the one I’m talking about right?) Trace, these shots below? These are your Sybil shots. 
Tracy told me how much this pregnancy has made her feel more like the lady with the swollen ankles than anything else. If she needs reminded of just how beautiful she looks with a baby belly, I hope she’ll always come back to this shot. It’s my favorite. 
The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.—Rajneesh
Tracy, congratulations on your “something new”. I’m here for you. Always. But you already knew that, didn’t you?
See more of Gail’s work at www.gailwernerphoto.com. Become a fan of Gail’s work on Facebook. Follow Gail on Twitter.
by Gail Werner
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