this is the story of a girl...

I am not a product of myself.  I am a product of people, places, and events that have shaped me into the girl I am today.  It would be absurd to say that the following people are the only people from my past who have shaped my present, but I feel like today is the day to share their stories.

I got a text message from one of them last week talking about going through old photos and re-living the crazy, stupid things we've done, cursing the rest of us for letting her have the hairstyle she had all through high school.  It got me wanting to look at pictures, reminisce, and have a good laugh.

B.F.F. is so cliche, but that's honestly how I feel about these girls.  Unfortunately, I can't hang out with them as much as I would like, since I'm over a thousand miles away from most of them.  Fortunately, I know when we're together, it's like we've never been apart.  We have more stories than I can remember, but these are some of my favorite memories of each of them.

Melinda

I first met Mindy sophomore year.  We had drama class together, and ended up triple-dating to prom that year - arriving in style in a mini-van.  In drama, all the girls would sit in the green room and talk when we were supposed to be practicing our lines.  One day I was talking about how I was trying to repurpose an old pair of blue jeans into a denim skirt and couldn't quite get it to work.  Mindy told me to bring them in and she would show me how to do it.  I brought my project in a few days later, and sure enough, Minz knew how to get the job done.  The funny thing is, she's still teaching me how to be crafty - I read her blog frequently to get all sorts of cute and crafty ideas.  I feel like she could look at anything and say "I can do that" and actually do it.

Bethany

Bethany and I met at cheerleading tryouts our freshman year.  With some luck, we both made the varsity team and the rest was history.  Bethany and I were pretty much inseparable from there on out.  Even though we are still great friends, my favorite times with Bethany were the high school years.  We spent countless hours driving around in my old Dodge, singing our lungs out and pretending we could rap.  Bethany stayed in with me when my parents wouldn't let me go out late.  We watched dumb movies and laughed and laughed and laughed.  We made up code names for our friends and crushes in Spanish class so we could gossip without anyone else knowing - of course they probably all thought we were nuts.  I probably have more inside jokes with Bethany from those few years than with just about anyone else.

Abby

I first met Abby in 6th grade band when they combined three or four elementary schools to make up one band.  I was jealous of her awesomely colorful clarinet.  My favorite memory of Abby happened a few years later. 

It was a hot, sunny day, the summer after 7th or 8th grade.  Abby, another girl, and myself rode our bikes to the historic area of downtown to have lunch at Bi-Rite Drug, an old-school pharmacy that housed a little diner upfront.  Bi-Rite has the best mozzarella cheese sticks around, hands-down.  We laughed over inside jokes and gossiped like any other teenage girls would do.  At some point during lunch, the conversation turned philosophical and we began discussing church and prayer.  We decided we should go pray.  After lunch, we hopped on our bikes and rode a few blocks over to the Catholic church.  We walked inside the darkened church building, sat down and prayed - probably for a boy to notice us, to be more popular, or for summer to last a little longer - issues considered God-worthy in teenage girl world.  When we were done, we got up, and rode home.  

I don't know why this story has stuck with me, but I'll always remember praying with Abby.

Megan

When I lived in the dorms, Megan was pretty much my honorary roommate.  I lived on the second floor, facing a row of dorms across the driveway. We would play our music loud and dance around my room getting ready to go out at night.  As it happens, Megan's crush lived in the dorm directly across from mine on the first floor and we could see right into his apartment. Usually, Megan would end up in front of the window dancing and trying to catch a glimpse of him.  It wasn't until she saw him and his roommates staring at her one night that she realized he could see her through the window dancing and watching him.  She was momentarily mortified, but, in true Megan fashion, she easily let it go, and continued doing exactly what she wanted - a trait I treasure in Megan.

Kaylin

The only time I ever served detention was with Kaylin.  It's actually really funny considering we were both pretty good kids.  It was 8th grade Life Science and we had the legendary Mrs. Gillingham as a sub (there was a local urban legend that she was an American Gladiator alum, but really she was just slightly frightening - especially to 8th graders with wild imaginations).  We were playing some sort of review bingo game and Kaylin and I were laughing and giggling.  Mrs. Gillingham wasn't having any of us actually having fun in science class, so she gave us detention.  After school, Kay and I showed up to serve our time.  I think Mrs. Gillingham was either surprised we actually showed up, or she felt bad that she'd gone gladiator on us and she ended up giving us cookies and letting us leave.  We had a good laugh about doing hard time together and went home.  Lucky for me, we've had a lot of other great laughs throughout the years.

My other favorite memory of Kay was finding out that she was going to be a mom.  Kaylin eloped and got pregnant without any of us really knowing.  She sprung the news through an adorable poem typed on colorful paper that she mailed to everyone.  I still have it in my scrapbook, right next to the pictures from her baby shower and Hanna's baby pictures.  Kaylin was my first friend to have a baby, and I loved sharing her experience via letters, texts, and phone calls since she was living in California and Florida during her pregnancy.  The night I got the text that little Hanna Kay had entered the world was such a fantastic night.  That's one truly lucky little girl.

Erin

Freshman year of college Erin and I were both stuck in a funk.  Neither of us liked the colleges we had chosen and were trying to figure out what our next moves would be.  We decided we needed a girls weekend, so Erin drove over from Laramie, and we met up with Kristen in Salt Lake City.  We had a great time girl-talking during the road trip and spending quality time with Kristen.  I remember that "My Immortal" by Evanessence came on the radio and Erin said, "Listen!  This is OUR song!"  The song goes "I'm so tired of being here, suppressed by all my childish fears."  I think during the course of that weekend, we both decided we needed to make some changes in our college careers (and our lives).  Erin moved home to go to school there, and I decided to move to Salt Lake, and the rest is history - and during that history, Erin's always been there to offer me good advice just like she did then.

Kristen

My dad got transferred from my hometown in Wyoming to Houston when I was a senior in high school. My mom and I were able to stay through the end of the school year, and three days after graduation, my family packed up and moved to Texas.  Kristen's family took me in, as if I was their long lost daughter, during the summer before college.  My favorite time with Kristen is that summer.  My bedroom was next to hers, down the hall from the TV room.  We would stay in together and laugh at stupid movies all night.  We would get dolled up together, sharing clothes and makeup and doing each other's hair.  After nights out with different groups of friends, we would crawl into each other's bed and tell our adventures of the evening.  

I was included in family dinners, movie nights, and conversations with Terry, Jolynn, and Ashlen.  When everyone else had their mom and dad moving them into their dorms, I had Ashlen.  They became my family when mine was too far away.  Kristen was my sister.  She still is.  I can never thank her or her family enough for being there for me then, or now.

Girls - know that I love you all and you mean so very much to me.  Each and every one of you has been there for me through the peaks and the valleys of life and I could not be more grateful.  How amazing is it that we started off as friends as kids, and now we can sit around and drink a glass of wine and talk about our own families.  I doubt that most people are as lucky as we are to have had each other through so much.

All my love,
E.Smith

P.S. I am amazed I got through this entire blog without mentioning Candy Basket once.  We have some good memories there, too!