Glory Tree Flowers

I recently guest posted for Glory Tree Flowers. Here's a link to the post. Thanks again to my bestie, Reagan Reynolds!

STOMP

Wow, I just realized that this is my 100th post! That's pretty exciting. Seems a little pathetic that it took me about 15 months to accomplish that, but that's OK. I'm picking up speed from here and it definitely won't take another 15 months for the next 100.

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I've been wanting to write this post all week, but just have gotten busy and had other posts to deal with first. But this past weekend a group of us went to see STOMP. I bought these tickets probably about 8 months ago and got online right when they went on sale, so I pretty much had my pick of any seats I wanted. So I grabbed us some 5th row center seats which were amazing, by the way! It's so much more exciting when you're that close to the stage.

I've been wanting to see STOMP for a while now. But even more than that, I've been wanting to take Jarrod to see STOMP. I knew it would be right up his alley with all of the percussion and music. Also, I love the theater so much and he just does not get excited about it, so I thought I'd try to ease him in a little. Maybe now I'll actually be able to get him to go to a show with me!

We definitely were not disappointed by the performance. The cast did a great job. They were very entertaining and so talented. It's amazing what you can use to make noise. I was also impressed how entertaining the show could be without any words.

I think everyone had a good time and it's always fun doing something different, especially where you get to dress up a little!

Now I'm sure this is totally illegal, but here's a little video I took for your viewing pleasure...

Friends of the Forever Kind

I had lunch today with my oldest friend. I have known Anna literally my entire life. I was actually in the hospital with her the day she was born when I was only 3 months old. We grew up together, played Barbies and Power Rangers and dressed up like princesses.

We had our ups and downs over the years. One of my favorite stories to tell about us came from our Kindergarten class. We had gotten into a fight about something, I can't remember what, and Anna stormed off with an emphatic, "You're not my best friend anymore!" and I yelled back, "Fine!" A few minutes later I was called over by the teacher who asked me if I'd told Anna we weren't best friends anymore. I told her, "No, Anna said, 'You're not my best friend,' and I said, 'Fine.'" And then Anna, serious as hell, through her tears said, "But you're supposed to argue."

I am happy to say that 25 years later, she's still one of my very best friends. We don't always keep up as much as we'd like and having lunch together happens too rarely, but we always pick up right where we left off.

I love meeting up with her because I'm always interested to see where her life is heading. She just spent several weeks in Sri Lanka bathing elephants (seriously!). Now, she's planning a trip to New Zealand where she'll spend at least 3 more months there. But she doesn't even know if she's leaving in November or sometime next year. Anna lives in the excitement of the unknown, which makes me a little jealous sometimes. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy with where my life has taken me, but at this point, I feel that things are sort of planned out. I miss that feeling of not knowing what's coming next. I hate that I don't have an option of moving to some distant land for any number of months. I'd love that opportunity to travel and try new things.

I feel that someday Anna is going to put together a memoir of her life and it would be really exciting to read. I wish that if I put together the story of my life that others would want to read it, but the cold, honest truth is that I don't think it would be that interesting. Like I said, I'm not disappointed with my life in any way, but I would like some sort of legacy to be able to pass along. It makes me want to be more spontaneous and exciting, but then I realize that I have a mortgage and other expenses to think about and being spontaneous usually means expensive. I also know I have my whole life ahead of me and there's no time like the present to start writing whatever story you want.

Comfort in silence

Wow, I've been very absent from the blogging world this month. And it's not even that I've been unusually busy. I think it's more that I've been caught up in day-to-day life and although I've had the chance to spend a lot of this month with the people I love the most, it's not been anything particularly inspiring. I've actually been very productive this month (but I'll get into that in my month-in-review post tomorrow), and I'm glad to have made some progress on the more mundane aspects of my life.

As I said before, much of this month was spent with the most important people in my life. Jarrod and I found some time to relax and unwind, just the two of us; I got to host dinner for my bestest friend and her new husband, before he heads off to military training; I got to see my beautiful big sister looking gorgeous in her wedding gown (and fabulous new shoes!) and celebrate with her at a bridal shower; and now my awesome cousin is in town from Florida for the week, so I've been trying to grab as much time as possible with her.

There's that quote I've heard before, something like, "The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had." Well that's what this month has been like for me. Nothing earth shattering or newsworthy. Just being with the people I care about. Sitting on the back porch after a cookout playing word games on your phone with the people sitting next to you...

Congratulations, Mrs. Reynolds

Yesterday, I had the amazing opportunity to be a part of the wedding of my best friend in the whole world. The newly Mrs. Reynolds is one of the most important people in my life. She and I have shared so many life experiences over the decade that I've known her.

Reagan and I actually just had our 10 year anniversary this past New Year's Eve! We met at the lovely Nancy Ray's birthday party in high school. A bunch of us went to a Clayton King/Jars of Clay New Year's event. Reagan and I met at the beginning of the evening and left that night best friends forever!

I said in my last post how Jarrod is one of the few people in this world who really "gets" me. Well, Reagan is one of the others. Most people in my life I know I need to put in some effort or else we could lose touch over time, but I've never had that worry with Rea. I think of her the same as I do my sisters: I know she'll always be a part of my life, despite how much time or distance may separate us.

More than anyone in my life, Rea has been there for nearly all of my major life events. We went through the giggly-girly early teen years, we experienced a time of religious extremism and spiritual growth, we rebelled together and questioned our purpose and God and found the men that we'd spend the rest of our lives with. Reagan was actually with me the night I met Jarrod. Here's a picture of us just hours before that happened:

I was so blessed to have her with me as I prepared to walk down the aisle. Although I think we both kept making each other cry!

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I love that last one. It's so us!

Living several hours apart and being in different places in life have made it more difficult to keep up in past months, but we spent the other night catching up once again and looking back at some of the funniest and craziest and most life-changing moments together. Then yesterday I sat with her as she got ready to jump into the next phase of her life. I couldn't imagine a more beautiful bride or be more proud to be there those final moments before the BIG MOMENT.

Reagan, your friendship has meant more to me than I could ever express. I love you so much and I have been so blessed to have spent the last 10 years with such an amazing person as you. I wish you the best in this new adventure and above all, I wish you a lifetime of happiness! Just remember, you'll always be my girl.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds!