Tribute

I can remember it like it was yesterday... my mom came home from 4-H with my sister and said... "I've arranged for you to get together with Paula's daughter" .... I can remember thinking... are you kidding me! I don't need my mother arranging play dates for me.. I'm practically an adult (okay well I was a sophomore)... but nonetheless I agreed to go. We agreed to go to Amical for dessert (this became our favorite dessert spot and I still go there in honor of her now) and Horizon Books for coffee... When I got there to pick her up I couldn't believe that my mom thought I could actually have something in common with this girl.  I was a musical nerd, girly, and of course boy crazy... she was into horses, painting, well and boys... the only redeeming quality was that we both wore flip flops.  Little did I know that she would end up being my best friend for several years.

Our friendship blossomed that summer and we were soon inseparable.... If we weren't in school or working we could be found 'cruisin' the strip (yes that's just driving up and down front street blaring our music so loud all we did was laugh)... I can still remember the first time we pulled over to talk to boys... You would have thought she was going to die... she was SO RED! AND we were driving my mom's car (yea sorry mom) and it had a car seat in the backseat (real cool!) and when they asked us if we had kids we laughed so long and so hard that we had to pull away and then pull over to get it back together.  We had our own bench... one that we claimed downtown as ours... (yes another way to talk to boys.. we were young!) and sometimes when I miss her so much that it hurts I go and sit on our bench.

She lived for twilight shows and of course the fair... we even ran for fair queen together... her talent was making a french silk pie (to this day still my favorite) for the judges... barn chores, picking out the cute wanna be cow boys... and of course the 4-H dance that she always dragged me to... oh did she love to dance... Remember Brianne.... "I'm a choreographer"... best pick-up line at a dance club (gentlemen take note... DO NOT USE THAT LINE .... IT DOESN'T WORK)

We used to go to get ice cream and she would order a side of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and a side of Whipped Cream... and if she was feeling really adventurous she would add Cookie Dough... We laughed every time... oh and she loved strawberries... and Strawberry Shortcake... ya know the little doll that has strawberry everything.

I remember her having to have her jaw wired shut for what seemed like FOREVER (I'm sure it felt even longer to her) and we used to sit while she was half with it watching every chick flick we could find and reading trashy girly magazines...

We loved road trips... we usually would drag Grace along and stop and take random pictures along the way, whether it was going downstate to Grandma's or just on some wild adventure that day. She hated the way I drove. Might be because I almost killed us the first time we ever hung out... but in my defense.. it was snowy, and icy.. and their driveway sometimes was a nightmare.

We had more inside jokes than you could even imagine.... "no sour cream or tomatoes" still makes me laugh to this day.  Going through the drive through of Wendy's at night and talking to the automated machine for quite sometime before we realized they were actually closed. She washed the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.  She hated when I used to watch her put on mascara, especially when she used the eye lash curler..

I took her to her first party... I told her... "when you walk through the door they'll hand you a beer... just conveniently put it down somewhere and they'll never notice".. I don't think she believed me... Sure enough... that's exactly what happened...

Oh did we love to laugh... but we also went through some very hard times together.Her parents divorce, my family chaos, our first boyfriends and break ups, the birth of my first child (she even came and stayed with me in the hospital)... her moving all over the globe pursuing her love for missions...

She had a gentle spirit, but a fiery attitude, she loved love, oh she laughed, and her smile, and crazy curly hair...  We used to spend hours just dreaming about our weddings, what our lives would be like as we got older...

She was one of my very best friends... and on days like today.. my heart aches missing her so badly..I can't sit and sort out my girl stuff with her, talk about cute boys, laugh about anything and everything. She'll never get to see my boys grow up, have a family of her own. All of those dreams of hers are gone. I still can't believe she's gone.

I thank God every day for having had her in my life... even if it was for way too short of a time.

One of the only songs she would sing at karaoke was from Coyote Ugly... and the words bring me to tears every time I hear them... I can hear her singing...

"And I don't like to turn the radio on 

Just to find I missed my favorite song 

And I don't like to be the last with the news 

But I do love you " 

You are forever in my heart my dear sweet friend.  I miss you every day... 

"I don't like to be alone in the night
And I don't like to hear I'm wrong when I'm right 
And I don't like to have the rain on my shoes 
But I do love you 
But I do love you"