College Buddies

I have a good life. I get up, get my healthy body ready for work, kiss my wonderful husband and beautiful daughter goodbye, and drive to the school where I teach music. I have a wonderful family and a whole gaggle of people here who I love so much and who love me too.

But today, like most days, I miss my friends. My COLLEGE friends. You see, while I have many friends here in town, not ONE SINGLE ONE of my best college friends live here. NOT EVEN ONE. After college, everybody freaking spread to the four winds, and now none of us live close. None of us even live in the same state!!! How does this happen!?!?!?

When I think back to my undergrad years at Northwest, I realize that those were the best years of my life. I don't know how to say that without making it sound like "now" is not good. It IS good. Amazing. But nothing will ever compare to the four years I spent with these jokers.

Let's start with her.

This is Sarah. We call her SoCo. SoCo and I met our junior year of high school at music camp. We weren't really separated until we graduated. Not kidding. We took almost every single class together in school. We even shared a senior recital. I could not have made it through undergrad without her. I miss her smile and the way we understand each other SO well, because well, we were basically siamese twins. We once sang the entire Amy Grant Home for Christmas album together, completely a cappella. I don't know any other friends that can do that. She lives in Connecticut. Oh, and P.S. - that's her son Henry. He and Amelia are getting married someday. Done.

This is Skidney. He's really Syd, but Skidney to me. He and I became best friends right off the bat our freshman year when we both made the top choir at school. I pretty much lived in his dorm room, and we shared a history class that I will never forget. Snacks across the hall at the snack bar, and study sessions that I still have notes from because the comedy is so epic. We used to go to McDonald's together after Tower Choir practice when no one else wanted to go out to eat. This guy makes me laugh, bottom of the belly laugh, harder than anyone I know, except for my friend Michael Brown from high school. I miss the laughs and the jokes. We have inside jokes that would stretch from here to Hawaii. And they NEVER get old. He lives in Atlanta.





Oh, and her? That's Syd's wife, Abby. She was a bridesmaid at my wedding. Abby and I became friends after Syd and I did, but it's probably safe to say she took his place. Sorry, Skid. Abby is as true of a friend as you can have. We spent most of our college years getting to know each other, but now, I can definitely say that she is one of my best friends. We have had some life-altering talks in the middle of the night, sitting outside at her house in Denver or her dad's in Mexico, MO. How I miss her so. When it comes to Abby and me, it's all about putting aside the crap and getting down to the business of life...just the way I like it. :-) As you can probably deduct, she lives in Atlanta, too. (Bastards.)



Oh, the Larsons....Cam and Dave. Fricking Minnesotans. Cam is the most kind, caring, sweet person. But mix Cam with some drinks, some gay guys, and a hotel swimming pool, and you've got yourself some entertainment. This girl is flat out Ca-razy. I can't even believe some of the times we have had during and since college. Dave and Syd were friends in high school, and like a little lost sheep, he followed us all to Northwest. Dave is a supreme storyteller. He is one of the most entertaining people I've ever met. Ask him about his uncle sometime. Came and Dave live in a beautiful home on the river. In fricking Minnesota.



Maria. My Mary-a. She's the Mary to my Rhoda. She is my soul sister. Honest to God, our souls are connected in a way I will never understand. We even have a song. I would tell you about it, but you would think it was cheesy, and besides, it's just between us anyway. Once, when I was still at Northwest and Maria had graduated, I had severe stomach pains and had to come home from class. I called her, and she was having a crisis. I got sick because she was sick. Thousands of miles away. Enough said. She lives in Denver.


And lastly, my Elise. Elise and I became friends on Tower Choir tour to (the real)Mexico my freshman year. The next thing you know, her jerk boyfriend is apartment hunting for us (she kept the apartment longer than the boyfriend) and Elise is running upstairs telling Kurt (my future husband) that somebody at his party needed to move their car because we didn't have a parking spot. Thus begins a long line of twisted, beautiful, hilarious, messy tales that led us where we are today - best friends. When Kurt died, Elise drove up from Ole Miss just to be with me. She lived with me that summer, and has shown me the kind of loyalty and dedication that I can only hope to repay to her someday. My heart breaks every day because she's in Nebraska, kicking ass as an associate professor at a college, instead of here with me. She is my crack cocaine - I cannot live without her. I have been going through such serious withdrawals that I don't know what to do with myself besides call Elise and leave her really creepy messages about how much I miss her.




So, that's them. Not ALL of them, mind you, but this is the "core". Everybody made it in this picture from our wedding except for SoCo because well, I don't remember why she wasn't there and Elise was in New Zealand, which I still don't think was an excuse. And most days, I would give anything - ANYTHING - to be all together with them again. These people are the best of me, and they know me and love me better than just about anyone, besides my family and Ben, of course.

I miss my friends.

HOLLA -