A little memory lane ...

I really don't have any new events to blog about today but I'm in the blogging mood, so I'm blogging about me and my thoughts lately. And I've got a lot of them. (By the way, if you don't know me well, then you may not know I have ALWAYS been a big letter writer and note writer. When I moved to NC as a 13 year old, I was the queen of letter writing -my parents limited my phone calls because they were too expensive, but I'm not sure the stamps were much cheaper. And those were just the ones I mailed. I was equally verbose with the notes I wrote my new friends in NC).


First, I have to say that currently, I'm feeling very blessed to have so much good in my life and am very grateful for all of it. I have an amazing husband that I just celebrated 12 years with, who is truly my best friend and I love spending time with him. We have a ton of fun together and are blessed to have a weekly date night so we get to spend a lot of time together. He has a great job, one that challenges him and encourages him to grow in a lot of ways and provides a great income for us. Plus he is a partner in another business that has an incredibly promising future and has seen some really great prospects in the last couple of weeks. I have 3 beautiful girls that are all healthy and smart. They have their moments, but overall, they are GREAT kids and I couldn't really ask for anything more from them. They make me laugh, make me smile and just when I've about had it, they love me and teach me something. I have a very supportive family, one that I love so much and am so appreciative for all they have done for me. I have a beautiful home in a great neighborhood with so many great neighbors. Neighbors that are great friends but more like family than anything else, people I can share so much with and learn so much from. I have lots of other great friends who I am still blessed to keep in touch with from past jobs, college, high school, middle school and believe it or not, even elementary school. I have a busines that I can do 100% from home (other than buying supplies), I have 4 employees who also get to work from their homes plus a one-of-a-kind assistant who works in my office, helps around my house and watches my girls when I go out. I am spoiled in so many ways and especially with my opportunities to travel to such amazing places. I am truly living a life I DREAMED about and never really imagined would be mine. Thank you all for being a part of it, for loving me and standing behind me, even when I'm not the perfect neighbor, friend, sister, daughter, mom or wife. I have so much left to learn and do but I am truly grateful and feel so blessed to have you all in my life and be living the life that I am. So anyway, here is a trip down memory lane. If you want to share a memory from the past, I'd love to hear it!


Second, I'm a sentimentalist. I've been on a little memory lane "cruise" recently. It was probably really started when I joined facebook. A friend from BYU ColorGuard invited me to join a facebook group of guard alumni. She was someone I hadn't heard from in years who stumbled onto my blog from another friend from guard. So, I joined facebook and the memories started to flood. BYU Marching Band has been one of the greatest blessings of my college life - actually my entire life. Why would 4 years of hours of practice and football games be the greatest blessing of my life ... my hubby of course. If you didn't know, I met Steve in marching band. He was a drummer (I'm sure that's no surprise if you've read any of my blog recently) and I twirled flags of course. But in addition to meeting Steve, I met some amazing friends and learned so much about myself. Thanks Beverly for starting the facebook group and to all the group members who have been posting memories! Thanks to all my friends from guard for helping me through some tough times that first year, for having so much fun with me while we worked so hard, for being there while I dated Steve and even after I married him, and especially for staying a friend even when things were tough and I left guard (Heather!!). This picture was taken during the '96 season. My very best colorguard friend isn't in this one though - Merf, that would be you - she and her husband were there for me more than anyone else during those first 2 years of college! And none of our drumline friends are in it either - but they are as much a part of my band memories as guard friends were - especially Robyn and Dallas who we still love to hang out with - can't wait for scrapbooking Fridays again!

After I joined facebook, I started getting in touch with a lot of other friends from my past - high school, my church group and even some elementary school friends. Its been a lot of fun to search for people and find out a little about what they are up to now. My own little reunion of sorts. I have always been a sentimental person ... so here is some more of it.

And the path continues. I stopped and thought about some of the other friends I've been connecting with recently on facebook, found a few from California, including a guy I was close friends with starting in 4th grade. We wrote after I moved and got to be even closer friends. He was the only one of my California friends who came to NC to visit me. Some great memories. We stayed really close into college. We've been in touch with each other off and on over the years but it was fun to find him again. He represents a fun time in my life and brings me to thoughts of other friends from 5th grade.

Ok, so you probably laugh ... 5th grade? Yes, oddly, it was one of my best years and we had a really tight group of friends and I have some amazing memories from that year. I kept in touch with several of them as we all moved around during middle and high school and even into college. One friend from that year, is one of my oldest and dearest friends. I have kept in touch with her now for almost 20 years and during that time we have NEVER lived in the same state. She and I were only 11 when she moved away, we were only in one class together (5th grade) and then were at different schools the next year. She has since lived in 3 other states, I've lived in 2 and yet we still email and keep in touch. We've managed to see each other only 6 or 7 times during that 20 years and yet its always like we never left each other. I'm not sure she reads my blog much, but if she does, I love you Joni! This is a picture of her the last day I saw her before she moved in Nov of 1988. Forgive the '80's look and the lovely quality of the picture - its 20 years old!!

My last year in California (I left California in 1989), I got to be really close to two other friends that I have continually kept in touch with, one from school and one from church. They were two of the ones who benefited/suffered the most from my "verbose" letter writing during my years in NC. One was also a great letter writer and I had boxes of her responses by the time I graduated. Thanks Jamin for always writing me! You were about the only one that could keep up on the writing! Thanks Jeanette for being there for me that last summer and for being here in Utah when I got to college! I'm glad we've kept in touch.

To add to the memories flooding back because of facebook, a friend of mine sent one of those "getting to know you" questionaires on email about a month ago. As I was FINALLY answering it this week, I came to a question that asked "Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to?" Her answer was me (and her mom). It made me stop and think about how long we've been friends. She was one of my very first friends in NC and one of my best. When I did the math, I realized she and I have been friends for 19 years and that makes me feel OLD! I can't believe I'm old enough to have had friends for that long. Thanks Janis for continuing to keep in touch (even though you aren't much of a writer) and sharing that email with me! You are forever a part of me! Don't hate me for the picture! Its from 8th grade!

I had lots of great friends in NC and thanks to facebook I've been getting back in touch with some great friends from high school and some classmates I wasn't as close to. I wasn't exactly miss popular at my high school - I would actually describe myself as a bitter, California "smart girl" with a sarcastic attitude and chip on her shoulder. I'm not sure how my friends put up with me so there is no doubt why most kids didn't pay much attention to me and I didn't date guys from my school much. I also had some great friends from my church youth group - some that I don't know how I would have survived without. A couple of them are friends I usually visit when I'm back in NC - we go on double/triple dates with our spouses. Thanks Jeremy & Lynell! Some others I'm just getting back in touch with.

And then there's this friend from my church group, one that I CAN'T skip. She and I have known each other for about 18 years and she showed up on my doorstep a couple months ago with her kids. She lives about 20 min from me, but we hadn't seen each other for a couple of years. She just showed up - didn't call or anything. And I was so glad that we were the kind of friends that she felt comfortable enough to do that. She was in my area and decided to stop for an impromptu visit. We hung out for an hour or so and it was like we hadn't really spent any time apart. Thanks Ciria for just showing up that day, reminding me how important "old" friends are and for being a true friend even through our rough patches. You have given me so much and forgiven me for some stupid mistakes! Ready to forgive me again? You'll probably hate the picture. Its from our 3rd year of church girls' camp - 2nd year as friends and it was taken on your birthday (which she shares with my daughter now)- which happened while we were at camp. We were probably a bit slap happy from lack of sleep and being out in horrible hot, humid weather. Thanks for all the "joy" you brought to my life!

Then I jump to more recent friends. Some very unlikely and unexpected ones ... a high school friend of Steve's married a girl from color guard (one that I didn't really hang out with much) but now have a blast with ... a fellow Novell employee from the next department who I met purely by coincidence (even though our husband's were friends and had been trying to get us to meet) and now she has truly become one of my BEST friends ... the out-going sales guy at Staples who was daring enough to ask Steve and his boss about job openings which led to him getting a job there and he and his wife being a major part of our lives, great friends and now neighbors ... a quiet friend from down the street who offered to swap kids with me when we both worked part time, who was an answer to my prayers then and so many times since then ... and to so many more of you - great neighbors, co-workers, friends from all aspects of my life!! Ok, so I'm a sappy sentimentalist who loves to write (and talk) but most of you probably already knew that.

Thanks for my little trip down memory lane! I think I just might do a few more blogs "from my past" with lots of old photos and fun times. I'll have to scan more photos from my old albums though!

I warned you ... I'm very verbose! Share your memories if you dare!