Dear Childhood Best Friend, Thank You.

The day we met, saying we were wild, hyper little girls would be a complete understatement. In fact, before I go further, I want to apologize to our sweet mothers who somehow kept their sanity that day!  Nerves were running high and we were both excited and nervous for our very first 4-H Fashion Review judging.  For those unfamiliar with this wonderful program (seriously, enroll your kids it is so beneficial!) the fashion review is the culminating event for the girls and boys who chose to sew an item,. outfit, or do some "smart shopping" to chose an appropriate outfit for an event, stick to a budget, etc.  I knew that I would sit in front of a judge and relive all the blood, sweat, and tears that went into creating my very first sewn garment; a lime green floral printed shorts and tank top set.  I was ready!  I loved to talk (ask my mom) and I was pretty proud of the set I had completed all by myself (with the help, exasperation, and pleading of my sweet mother, she's a saint, folks). 

What I didn't know was that when I walked through the doors of the Newcastle High School band room where we all waited to have our items judged, I would see a little girl with the curliest hair sitting on the floor playing with her horse toys, with a mother whose look spoke the same relief and exasperation as my own mother's that day.  I am not sure who was more drawn to each other, us or our moms who probably needed a good laugh and talk with someone who had been in the same boat. I mean, teaching a wild, playful, short-attention-spanned eight year old girl to sew has to be a trying task to say the least!  I didn't know it that day, but when I asked my mom if I could please go play with her we would be beginning what would be one of the best, most heartfelt friendships I have known.  Thanks, 4-H!



Let me just say, everyone needs that childhood best friend to go on adventures with.  She taught me more than she knows.  Well, she'll know now!  As a mother, there are so many people whose life lessons I have looked to when raising my own children--and those I learned from my great friend are right up there.  To name a few; it's ok to laugh at yourself--especially if you just fell off a big round hay bale into a snow drift.  Who cares what you look like, it was funny--LAUGH!, or if you want to dance, just go do it, if you don't have a partner it doesn't matter make it as you go, what is popular is not always what is right--don't confuse the two, if you want something (like a set of dual walkie-talkies to be super spies) save up your money, and most of all, be you and be silly; there is enough seriousness in this life.  If you can be silly and laugh about something, anything (like dressing up a sheep to walk about in a winter wool outfit in 100 degree weather or getting run over by pigs at the Wyoming State Fair, there is always something to laugh and be silly about).

Fast forward to the present.  We have very different lives, but one thing that hasn't changed is our relationship.  Thank you, friend.  Thank you for your unconditional love. Thank you for the adventures--I mean, we have been to Europe together! Thank you for never giving up on us.  Thank you for your sweet, fun, fierce love for my babies.  I may never have had a biological sister, but my kiddos have an aunt in you and they love you like one.  Thank you for the memories.  Thank you for our wild childhood days.  Thank you for our not so wild adult days.  On behalf of the wildlings, thank you for the tickles and snuggles and silliness. Thanks for being you.  I could write for days, but truthfully so many of my memories with you are those "had to be there" moments--you're thinking of them, I know you are!  You are the only person I would push in an 80s Nissan pickup in a KFC parking lot to pop a clutch to get moving.  Like, I wouldn't even do that for my husband, only person. So, in nutshell, thank you for being you; I don't know where I would be had our paths not crossed that fateful August morning.