Memories a year in the making

On Thusday, an otherwise blah week (sick kiddos…traveling husband…) took a turn for the better because my friend Suzanne arrived for a visit.  It’s a trip that’s been a year in the making.  Almost exactly a year ago she purchased a plane ticket to Houston.  But, as it typically goes, life happens and her trip had been scheduled and rescheduled twice.  But nothing could stop us this time, and her visit was everything I imagined it would be and more.

I really don’t even remember officially meeting Suzanne.  We grew up at the same church, and I always knew who she was.  During the summer of 1995, I went on a youth group mission trip to San Antonio.  This is the very trip where I met my future husband, but also on that trip I was bunked up at a host home with Suz.  I remember painting our nails together late at night, giggling about anything and everything, and eating fried eggs.  From that summer on, she wasn’t just someone who’s name I knew from church; she was a friend.

She graduated a year before me, moved to Oklahoma, and got married.  I graduated, moved to Abilene, got married, moved to California…life moved on and even though I always considered her a friend, she was one of those that I simply lost touch with.  We didn’t see each other, talk, or anything for about 7 years.  The Christmas of 2004, I saw her dad, who was (don’t tell my kids) playing Santa Claus at my parents’ house.  He told me that his oldest “elf” was going to have a “baby elf” in April.  I was excited for her, and hoped that someday we could reconnect.  I think it was about a year later I discovered she had a blog.  The rest is history.  We see each other any chance we get, which is pretty tough since we don’t live anywhere near each other.  We talk on the phone a lot, talk over i chat, text back and forth obnoxiously.  Well, it’s obnoxious to my husband anyway.  “Why don’t you just call her, Meg.”  Whatever.  Now that we are 30 and almost 30, we have to stay young and hip by texting each other.

Because we were definitely not hip when we were young.

So my dear friend Suzanne came to Houston.  She is the kind of friend that I can laugh hysterically with, be serious with, and be quiet with.  We are eerily on the same wavelength.  Like this weekend when we were shopping, backs turned to each other, looking through racks, and at the exact moment we turned to show each other something cute and we were holding the same pair of pajamas.  Or we’ll be thinking of the same song to play next in the car.  I can’t even tell you how many times one of us said “I was about to say that!” to the other, and meant it.

I always knew that we got each other.  In 1997, at a youth group New Year’s Eve party, we played charades.  Because I cannot adequately describe the scene, I’m going to do a dramatic reenactment.

(and that, my friends, seals the deal that I am the biggest dork of all time.)

Speaking of dramatic reenactments, have you seen the show “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant”?  Um, wow.  That is another post for another day.  I watched it last night and my favorite was definitely the woman who was in labor and said “something is coming out of me!” and her boyfriend thought it was her intestines.  And then the baby plopped to the ground.  Wow. Just wow.

Back to me and Suz.  We had a fantastic weekend with lots and lots of Mexican food and laughing and talking and magazine and blog reading and hair dying and Ikea shopping.  It was sad to drive her to the airport yesterday.  I wish that we lived closer so we could get together more often.

I’m so lucky to have such good friends.  Really, I am.  Suz, thanks for coming to visit me.  Love you!