A Variation In Themes

This is a variation of blog of the month. It is my blog and I can break the rules if I want. Some of you may remember THIS blog where I talked about the great day I had with the Smith family. Well, yesterday was another one of those days and it really was the highlight of my week. I hadn't seen McKensie in a few weeks and when you spend most days with someone and then don't see them for a while it can seem like ETERNITY. It doesn't help that she is head over heels for a boy and is spending increasing amounts of time with him! Agh! I hate when my friends phase me out of their life for boys they will probably end up marrying...but I digress. I was glad to get to lay on her patio again and talk about life and boys and church and our plans for the future. As I talked to her again this morning she said as her and her boyfriend talked last night about things they were grateful for she listed me, and good friends. I in turn would like to list HER in my things I am grateful for list.

I moved to Utah because I had no friends or family here and wanted to meet new people. The fact that I am shy at first didn't work too well for me. I spent most days holed up in my on campus brick slab of an apartment on the internet talking to friends from back home and my boyfriend in Maryland. I didn't do many outside activities and while I met people I did not feel confident enough to put myself in their lives. I felt uncomfortable. My life continued that way for about seven months until one day I got a call from McKensie. She told me she was going to have a birthday dinner and that she wanted me there. What?!? My first real invitation to hang out with someone other than roommates? Did she call the right person? I barely KNEW the girl! Well... that my friends was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. From that day forward we spent a lot more time together.

If you reference back to that post, that was the first time I had spent all day with her family. For the past year and a half I have spent many nights over there and many consecutive days. Fall semester of '07 I basically lived there. I never spent much time with her family though. We stayed in her room and talked and lurked about the house at odd hours. Since posting that blog I spent the majority of the Sundays over at her house after church and until dinner and I feel just as comfortable being sarcastic with her family as I would be with mine. Her older brothers have never for a second treated me like anyone other than family and I believe it has everything to do with the way SHE treats me. She invites me to family events and always makes me feel welcome. ALWAYS. One kid asked us if we were best friends. I have thought a lot about that question in the months since it was asked. She is more than that to me. She is family. I tell her everything. I know that I may make her mad or she will make me mad but at the end of the day it doesn't matter because we will never stop talking to each other. Families are forever and so is our friendship.

I love you Kens! You gave me the courage to be myself here in Utah. The Scandal would never have come to light if you hadn't helped! You are beautiful, talented, an amazing resource, have an awesome laugh, and the greatest ability to be a friend. You seriously are so amazing and I hope you don't EVER forget how much I cherish you in my life!