Friends, Friends, FRIENDS!! Day...8? 9? Whichever, this one is important!

I'm trying hard to get back on track with this blogging. I have so many other things I want to write about that I need to go ahead and breeze through the 30 day challenge so I can get to the other things. Or maybe I just need to write more entries each day. Either way, I have things to say!

Today's topic is a good one. Friends! I have friends, and they're awesome, so I'm looking forward to the winding way this blog will go. But then I thought, "Where do I start? Who do I write about? What if I don't have pictures? What if someone feels bad if I leave them out?" My friends...my true friends...know who they are. They also know me, and they know I'm just slightly scatterbrained (ha..slightly) and could possibly be easily distracted...What was I writing about again? Oh yea...(haha) so my friends will know if I left them out and they know as well as I do that we're friends, it's not by any malicious measure.

I have been really blessed with some wonderful close friends, and even wonderful not-as-close friends. I noticed, while thinking about what to write and who to write about, that I don't have many pictures of me and my friends. So friends...expect this to change! And if you run the other way when you see me approaching, camera in hand, I'll follow you relentlessly until you let me take a picture of us. Consider this your warning!

An obvious person who would be my best friend is my husband, but that's a given, and anyone that knows JP and I knows how we are together. I already talked about him when I talked about my family in the first or second entry so I won't go back and repeat myself. But, yes, he is my very best friend.

Another person who most of you will think is quite obvious is Dodie. We met on our first day of sixth grade at Friendship Christian. I had been there a year longer but didn't really have any friends there (my fifth grade class consisted of 12 students who had basically been together since kindergarten- I wasn't received well as the northern newcomer that year), and Dodie was brand new from Byars Dowdy. Mrs. Wimberly had no idea what she was doing when she sat us across the desks from one another. (I think, shortly after, we were rearranged to across the room if that's any indication of how fast we became friends). Now, I've already mentioned Dodie briefly in the First Love blog post, because nothing is like the love between two honest to God best friends. Dodie and I were voted "Most Likely To Remain Best Friends" our senior year of high school, joined the same sorority at the same college (Alpha Sigma Tau at Cumberland), and then some stupid boy came along in my life that clouded all judgement and caused a big falling out between the two of us. Luckily, thankfully, we were able to patch things up, and Dodie took her rightful place in my wedding, back in my life, and now in Lily's life. Lily is one of the best dressed babies ever because of her Auntie Dodie. Dodie is, and has always been, one of those people that I could call at 2 am after not talking to her for months, and be able to pick up where we left off.

When JP and I got together, I was introduced to a whole new group of friends. JP's buddies from his teens and early twenties are an awesome, varied, and unique group. One of the best things about getting to be friends with these guys is that they have all grown up and gotten married and I have another group of friends. I've gotten to be closer friends with one, in particular than the others. Maybe this is because JP and Justin hang out more, or maybe it's just because our personalities just "click". Either way, I've been very blessed to have Tiffany in my life for the last several years. She is my uber-stylish "I wish I could pull what she's wearing off like she does but I can't so I'll just admire her outfit", natural hippie, funny, beautiful, and talented friend. She's Lily's godmother, and Lily loves her to pieces, too. I'm so excited for her and Justin as they're just a few short months away from welcoming their own, sure to be a fashionista, daughter Matilida into the world. How fun will it be for Lily to have a best friend in the daughter of OUR best friends?

Next on my list is my Shelley. It's funny how friendships form and grow. A little known fact to most is that Shelley used to be my aunt. She was for years. And that whole time, we rarely spoke and we were definitely not what I'd call friends. Neither of us know why, but it just happened that way. Then, she was not my aunt and we were no longer in touch, and shortly after that I began working with someone that used to work with her, and we were kinda-sorta-but-not-really in touch. And then, fate stepped in and I got a job at the bank. She emailed me during orientation and then we started texting, and as both of our husbands can now attest, the rest is history. The amount of things we have in common (and the amount of texts we send) is staggering. Timothy, her baby, is exactly one year and 2 weeks older than Lily, so she has been my go-to for Mommy advice since pretty much the second I found out I was pregnant. She and I can spend all day chatting and then all evening texting and start all over again the next day. I hate that I didn't know her in all the years she was my family, but I'm so thankful and blessed to have her as such a big part of my life now. I'm so excited to be joining her (hopefully sooner than later) at the main office when I start my new position.

This is turning out to be longer than I thought but you know what, too bad. I told you I was blessed with some wonderful people in my life. Rub your eyes, put some drops in, and keep on reading because I'm not done yet.

Next up: My beautiful, smart, and funny friend Samantha. The internet brought us together from pretty much two different sides of the US. My friendship with her preceeds even meeting JP. She is absolutely brilliant, and I think it's so fantastic we are living not only in the same state but in the same area now! It's great to know I can hop in the car with Lily and meet her at the park with her daughter. And when we first met one another in person, you would've never guessed that we hadn't ever seen one another before.

Beth is someone that I also inherited due to a friendship of JP's, and another that I consider myself very lucky to have! She is someone I can hang out with when JP and her husband are off cuddling...er...I mean, playing paintball for the weekend. She's one I can talk to when JP is at work because he works with her husband. She has been a great friend for the last several years!

Probably my newest friend that deserves mention here is Jennifer, who I work with at the branch. She and I have only known one another since she came to work in July but I can always count on her to cheer me up, make me smile, and just be there for me. She's even rescued me from bad weather...twice!

There are so many others that I feel like I should mention but I'm sure you're all so tired of reading now. So I'll just list them. I could say amazing things about all of these people, too: Doralyn and Leslie (they came with JP's friends, and I couldn't ask for any better people)

Sarah, Valerie, Jennifer, Kerri, and Kristen (the D-Detail Wives)

Caitlin (who else can I text about any kind of random topic under the sun?), Dawn and all the rest of my lovely Sarcastic Wives, Meredith (my coupon mentor and wonderful example of a Godly woman), Leigh Ann (my only friend from CSC), Brandi...God as always managed to bless me by putting the right person in my life at precisely the right time. Even if they don't stay for long, they're still exactly right for when they are there.

So, to all of my friends, thank you!