Continuing with Champagne to Crayons 28 Days of Celebrating THANKS!  Today is a day to talk about friends.

Truth be told. In my younger days, I didn’t have many GIRLS that were friends.  I always had a lot of male friends.  My best friend in high school was a guy.  I had female friends – some that I still keep in contact with now – but my closer relationships were with men.

Bring on college….one of the first people I met in school was Jan.  I was out having fun during orientation week, figuring out college life…I come back to the dorm and see this girl crying in her room.  Why?  Because she was missing her boyfriend.  I stopped in the room and started talking to her and an instant connection was made.

Jan is the BEST friend a person could have.  And, I don’t mean that lightly.  When I say the best, I mean the best.

I don’t even know where to begin when I speak about her.  We’ve been through so much and she’s SUPPORTED me through some really rough times.  A good memory – when I first moved to New Jersey after college, Jan and I would write emails to each other what seemed like every day.  The subject line of the email would be a movie quote and we had to guess what it was!  That’s a nice little memory for me – I anxiously awaited those emails and couldn’t wait to write back.

Here’s another memory that we like to rehash all the time – Sophmore Year in college we were roommates.  Jan, being a science major, was smarter than me.  Late one night she convinced me that she could throw a glass of water at me and the water would not come out of the glass.  Knowing little about science, she gave me some big speech, using words I’d never heard of before to convince me of this fact.  I said, “OK, let’s try it out” – she threw water at me – and I’m sure you can guess what happened – water all over my face.  What a great chuckle I get now thinking about that.

Jan does have a soft side – she’s very comforting in times of need.  She was the first person I called when I lost my grandfather, she is the first person I call when I’m upset about something.  During a really rough patch in my life I would call Jan…crying.  No exaggeration.  Every time I called her I was crying.  I was surprised she even picked up the phone because she knew I’d be crying.  She did.  Like a trooper.  And, talked me down from the ledge.  She’d sit there and listen to me groan on and on …. and on!  I’m sure she was rolling her eyes or was sick of hearing me babble, but never once did she tell me how frustrated she was with me.  She listened.  And, she gave me some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten.  She’s a true friend, a great counselor, and a wonderful confidante.

If it wasn’t for Jan, I might not have met Tony.  During a depressive state for me, Jan practically forced me to join a hiking club just so I could get out and be around other people.  I did join a club and Tony was the first person I met in that club.  Little pushes like that are what define our relationship.  And, no matter how much time passes between our chats and visits, when we get together, it’s like we’ve been with each other with no time and distance between us.  That’s one thing I love about our friendship.

It was such a joy for me to stand by her as she got married, and have her stand by me during my wedding.  I’m now so happy to watch her grow into an amazing mother.  Her children are two of the most fabulous kids I’ve ever met.  I know I’m biased but they are amazing.  Over the summer, Jan hired us to take photos of the kids – you better believe I was up for that.  Here are some photos from their session…I’ve been waiting to put these on the site because she can’t decide which pictures she wants (haha) but I think this post is appropriate to highlight her beautiful children!

Much love to you, Jan!  Thanks for all you’ve done for me.

As a Steelers fan, it pains me to see these football jerseys… 🙂

“OK, you put me in this bucket.  NOW WHAT?!?!”  He’s just a boy in a bucket!

haha.  Practicing his karate moves!

She is such a great big sister!!!!