Grateful for...

[Kate and I on a field trip, in front of the Twin Towers]

[This ended up being more of a short story than a post...hats off to you if you make it to the end]

When my family moved from New Jersey to Pennsylvania I was in the first grade and had to say goodbye to the only friends I knew and start fresh. As a 6-year-old this is a very daunting thing. I remember crying in class that first day at a new school. The horrors. I was severely timid and a new school with new people and new things was terrifying to me. I spent recess walking the perimeter of the playground, alone.

[Terrible quality, I had to scan these. This is at our high school graduation]

Then one day a girl came up to me, really friendly, really boldly, and said, "Hi! Will you be my friend?" and I said, "Yeah". Seventeen years later and this girl, Kate, is still my best friend. Well, really she is more like my sister, in so many ways. The beauty of our friendship is something that I consistently think about. I consider it one of the biggest gifts from God. Kate is one of the funniest people I know. She is also one of the smartest, most caring and loyal friends I have ever had. There is nothing like having a friend who knows the ins and outs of your life, who has seen some of your worst moments, who has stood by you when you feel like you're going insane, and who continues to care about the biggest things in your life.

[My 21st and 22nd birthdays. We look crazy in the second photo because we pied each other in the face.  One of the better birthdays I've had]

I honestly could write a book about this woman and how much she means to me but for brevity's sake I will simply share about what brought her to mind this monday. Over the weekend I took my first of 3 praxis exams in order to be a certified teacher. The reading and writing portions were fine. It was the math portion, however, that did me in. After this exam I felt terrible. I was positive I failed. And thats not a great feeling, especially when you've been battling to get math out of your life for years. Anyway, I called Kate afterwards, mainly to catch up after her trip to Europe (see, I told you she is cool). Talking to her is like coming home. It doesn't seem to matter how I feel or what I'm going through, when I talk to Kate, I feel like things will be okay because I'm reminded of a friend that has been by my side for over 17 years. How many people can say they have that in their lives? Its an amazing thing and I am overwhelmed with gratitude for her, in every way possible.

I know this post is super long and if you've made it this far its probably because you are my mother (thanks mom, for reading all my posts no matter how long they are). But I just had to express how truly grateful I am for this dear friend.

Happy Monday


And Kate, its because of you that I am listening to Justin Bieber on grooveshark right now.

[p.s. I didn't know that when I chose the photo of us in front of the Twin Towers that Kate, on her blog today, wrote about remembering when they fell...that's just how connected we are...]