#bunzbachbash

            Wes and I are on the road again; this time en route to our old home and the place where we fell in love: Jacksonville.  We are both beyond excited, and feeling very sentimental as we make the all-too-familiar drive down I-10.  Today’s Hits Radio is blaring on Pandora, and we are slowly reverting back into less mature versions of ourselves as we prepare for a few days of reliving “the good ole days” in the Florida sun. 

            I’ve gotten to do a lot of that this week, actually.  Having my Bachelorette party on the beach was a pretty genius idea, if I do say so myself.  Although I have to admit, I was a little bit nervous about the weekend.  I invited all of my best friends from all the different chapters of my life, but many of them didn’t know each other.  I was worried about how everyone’s personalities would mesh.  But as we sat in the condo on Saturday night, and I looked around the room at all the women in my life who mean the most to me, I was amazed at how everyone just clicked.  It was like, despite the fact that all of our lives are so different, everyone was meant to become friends last weekend.  

            We lounged on the beach all day on Saturday, falling in and out of easy conversation and utter relaxation.  Inside jokes were made almost instantly and were thrown about throughout the entire weekend followed by choruses of laughter.  My stomach actually started to hurt from laughing so much.  There is just something about being with your girlfriends that can make you feel like everything is right in the world, especially when so many people come together so perfectly and for no other reason than to celebrate you.  Or in this case...me.  I am such an incredibly lucky lady to be able to call these amazing women my best friends, and I cannot wait until the next time we are all together…at my wedding! 

Reunited

The last few days have seen the beginning of a pretty relaxing spring break.  They have also seen some much needed time with good friends.  One of my good friends from Teach for America, Joey, was in town this weekend visiting from grad school.  We hadn’t seen him since July, and, needless to say, lots of things have changed since then (see here).  But I think that was one of the coolest things about the visit…that despite the fact that almost everything is completely different now, the friendship hadn’t changed at all. 

Wes and Joey are particularly close, but I had never gotten to witness the intricacies of their friendship before.  All that changed this weekend.  I felt like I was getting to witness something especially rare.  I have had many friends in my lifetime, but I’ve never been the best pen pal so to speak.  So getting to see two people who have been separated for the last seven months by thousands of miles act like no time has passed and no distance could separate them, well, I found it inspiring. 

On Joey’s last night in town, we got together with a bunch of people who spent our two years of Teach for America with us.  We spent hours sitting together just talking in a gastropub in Riverside.  As the night got later, a little two-man band showed up and started playing the most perfect of soundtracks for the evening.  All it took was a guitar and a violin and none of us wanted to leave.  The last song we heard them play that night was “Ho Hey” by the Lumineers.  The people sitting in the restaurant started chiming in with the “hos” and the “heys” and it was like, for just a moment, time slowed down for us.  Every now and then in life, you get those moments that feel like a scene from a movie.  So perfect, yet so unbelievably unscripted, that you feel like you're watching it from the outside.  But then you realize you’re lucky enough to get to be in it, to actually be the star of this perfect scene of your life.  And your co-stars, well they’re pretty incredible, too.

Run a 5K: Check

        For over a year now I have wanted to run a 5K.  My mom and I trained in the summer of 2011 for one on July 4^th.  But the Florida heat caused us to tuck our tails and not run.  I seriously have no idea how any one did.  It was honestly sweltering. 

            But yesterday I finally did it.  I ran the Color Me Rad 5K with some pretty amazing people.  I hadn’t really trained like I should have.  I just couldn’t always find the motivation after spending ten hours a day with 25 five-year olds.  Most days I was just too tired.  But I managed to get enough practice in to power through the full race.  I am actually pretty proud of the accomplishment, especially since it was on my bucket list (see Life’s Ambitions). 

            I’m slowly etching away at a few of the things listed.  I finally saw a Taylor Swift concert last year, and although my writing has slowed down recently, I finally feel like people out there are reading it.  It’s a pretty incredible feeling to be able to check things off a list you have made for your life.  But what’s even more inspiring are the people in my life who are motivating me to do these things.  The people who are surrounding me right now are truly amazing.  Truly inspiring.  And, quite honestly, they are worth keeping around for the long haul. 

On Finding Friendship

After a solid two hours on the phone with one of my dearest friends, I have found myself back at the keyboard to share the thoughts that she put into my head.

A conversation about how short life is and how we should cherish the moments we have with the people who mean the most to us lead us to the conclusion that we are thankful. It seems so simple, but it is so often forgotten. Friends are often forgotten. Moments are often taken for granted. People fade in and out of our lives. It seems rare these days that someone sticks around to see you through the hard times and celebrate with you in the good times. The people I would have called with an exciting story two years ago are completely different in this chapter of my life. And I find myself hoping and praying that she will be on that “list” forever. That no matter where we are (California, Jacksonville, Spain, New York or the top bunk) or what we are doing (celebrating a birthday, searching for jobs, studying for the most important test of our lives, lying on the couch, or giddy with anticipation of what’s to come) she will always be one of the first people I call.

It takes a rare friend to remind you of what’s important in life, make you laugh and make you feel utterly and completely at home in one phone conversation from miles apart. But in the last two years of my life, she has been that person.

I have always been a self-proclaimed “terrible pen-pal”. As a military brat, I said goodbye to many “best friends” in my life. So, in my mind, my continued friendship with her is a testament of just how important she is to me. Despite that fact that months have sometimes passed between conversations, she is the one person I can call to just to say hello and end up crouched on the floor with my phone plugged in because the battery managed to drain completely in our “brief” game of catch-up.

While I have other friends who mean the world to me, I have to take a minute and thank her for reminding me of how precious true friendship really is. In yesterday’s sermon at church I learned that a true friend is committed, trustworthy, constructive, encouraging, loving and real. She is every one of these things and I am incredibly lucky to have her in my life.

So, my dear friend, as someone who never hangs up the phone angry and the fan-club president of Swamp Gravy, you deserve to be reminded of how precious you are to me. Thank you for always encouraging me and for always being on the same page as me even though we may be reading entirely different books. You truly are a sister to me for many more reasons than the secrets and the bond we share. I hope you never leave me not knowing that.

I love you.

Little Reminders

I've somehow let another week go by without writing. It's terrible, I know. And believe me it was not for a lack of things going on. This week has been an eventful one. Not in the sense that I have been go, go, go busy (because let's be honest, it's summer and I'm a teacher), but in the sense that I have learned a lot.

For the last two weeks I have been teaching fourth grade summer school at the school where one of my friends teaches kindergarten. And, being that it was the last week of summer school this week, I was none too busy. With my lack of busyness came the opportunity to help my dear friend out in her kindergarten class. Now, folks, I teach sixth grade usually so this was quite the change up for me, but I have to say I absolutely loved it. I loved their innocence, their hunger for learning, their politeness, their silly-ness, their unintentional humor. There was just something about reading them stories and helping them finger paint that rejuvenated me and made me laugh and left me feeling fulfilled. Spending the week with them was like getting a chance to look at life through the eyes of a child again, something we all need to do every now and then.

Another really special part of this week was getting to reconnect with my best friend. For the past 14 months we have lived in separate cities and I have only seen her a handful of times. But I think the mark of a true friend is someone you don't have to see often but with whom everything just falls into place with like you live inside each others minds. That is exactly how things are with Katie. Our friendship is one of those that withstands the tests of time. It overcame a year as roommates (a true feat, in my opinion), four years of college, high school drama, deaths of loved ones, and births celebrated like we shared a family. She is one of the few people I feel that I can be my absolute crazy self around. She is someone I immediately feel at home around because in so many ways she is home to me. A constant reminder that someone who doesn't share my bloodline knows everything about me and loves me anyway. And, honestly, who could ask for a better gift than that?

So, this last week of July was full of little reminders for me. Like a whisper in my ear telling me no matter how hectic or boring life is at any given moment, there should always be an innocence to the way you look at it and there should always someone you can call and tell about it. And if you're lucky enough to have both in the same week, then surely Someone up there is on your side and everything else will work itself out.