The Fortunate Passage of Time, and A Friend

I met Kristy on the second Sunday of September, 1988. It was our first Sunday in our new ward, in our brand-new house, and I was making my way through a crowded hallway at church toward the Primary room. A girl breezed by, turned, and said, "Hey, you're in our ward now? Cool!" and kept going, headed for a baby in need of hugging.

She had recognized me from the school bus we both rode in the morning, and from homeroom at our sixth grade center. Trying to get used to a new school, a new house, and a new routine, I hadn't noticed her. Until church on Sunday.

Ducklings. January 1989*

We became fast friends. Her friends became my friends. We sat together on the bus. We ate lunch together. We played and studied together. My first year at Girls' Camp was "blighted" by the fact that Kristy didn't turn 12 until four days after camp ended.

We were best friends in middle school, that most unlovely time of adolescence. Best friends in high school, where she was pretty, popular, and smart, and I was...um...smart. (And we liked the same guy, who liked Kristy back. Despite the tears (oh, high school drama), we were still close as close could be.) Best friends in college, roommates even. She set me up with Bradley for "Buddy Ball" freshman year, and talked me off the wall in regards to that relationship more than once that year. We were roommates for three years.

She was the first person I called when Bradley broke up with me in March of 1999. She was the first friend that I called when we got engaged in 2001.

October 2001

Even though she lives in Flagstaff now, and we only get together every year or so for an evening, she is still one of my best friends. We can call each other after not talking for months, and spend two hours on the phone, talking about everything and nothing.

Happy Birthday, Kristy-kay. Thanks for sticking with me, through bad hair and bad glasses, good guys and first kisses, and (now) four kids each. I love you!

*(Why I chose those horrible, huge, tinted, monstrous glasses, I will never know. Why my mother didn't stop me, I will also never know.)