From a small town in Nebraska to NYC and Me
February 25, 2011 
We met at Girls Camp when we were 12 years old and became penpals. We saw each other occasionally but most of our friendship was developed through letters. It makes me sad to think my children will never have a friendship like that. I feel like saying “When I was young…”. Letters are more special than twitters, texts and facebook updates. For several years we filled each other’s mailboxes but as we started dating and driving, the frequency of our letters decreased. Though not as much, we still kept in touch and she thoughtfully saved every letter and gave me a whole chronicle of my life. What a precious gift.
Halfway through college she transferred to my school, but while I was going to school full-time and working almost full-time, she was married to the hunk in the picture below so we did not see each other much. Just enough to keep the friendship alive.
After graduation I moved to the east coast and she moved an hour from my parents. I was excited to be able to visit her; however, during those years I was working more than full-time and never made it home. (I’m not a bad daughter, I just let my parents come to me). About the time I started having children she moved half an hour from my in laws. That’s when I stopped working (ha ha. sorta.) and started traveling so every year or two I was able to call her up and say “I’m in town. Can I see you?”
She finally repaid the favor this fall. She and her husband went to NYC for an anniversary trip and rented a car and drove all the way to see us. They arrived just in time for soccer practice so followed along and played with my babies while I coached. We returned home just as Warrior got home from work so we all cooked dinner together, then put the children to bed and spent the rest of the night talking.
The men watched some game on tv while the girls sat in the living room discussing how isolating motherhood is and how we wished women would open up more instead of hiding behind their “My Life is as Perfect as my Blog Makes it Sound” cover.
This post is getting too long and no one has that kind of patience so enough about my wonderful friend. Tomorrow I will tell you about her wonderful makeover because about the time any sane person would have gone to bed, we decided to redecorate my front porch.
The Barefoot Quilter 
