The Always Positive Friend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a friend that I am blessed to call my "Always Positive" friend!! You turned a special number this year, and I am glad that you will pave the way for me to understand the decade that begins with a 3!!!

I met you over a dead dog. That's right...a DEAD DOG named Pudge. I praise the Lord that our last names both begin with "BA" because I don't think I could have made it through Anatomy without you!! Our group was made up of Matt (now a veterinarian), Lauren (now a dentist), you (now an AWESOME nurse), and me (now a pharmacist). We did Dr. Ruoff proud....even though I was terrified of her! The dog that we ended up with was definitely the fattest dog in our section (hence the name Pudge). I remember that they never wanted to use good old Pudge during the lab practicals...I wonder why...maybe it was his nasty smell?!?

Anyway...enough about the dog...I knew the minute I saw your smile and experienced your kind spirit that you were a Christian. I had actually prayed for my Anatomy group the entire summer before we started the class because I knew that we would be spending so much time together, and I was VERY nervous about Anatomy for some reason. God totally blessed my socks off by allowing me to have you in my group and then become my dear friend! We struggled through Anatomy together while our lab partner, Lauren, made a 100 on every practical...she was super sweet though!

I was quickly blown away by your serving heart and your huge volunteer work with Breakaway. I remember studying with you in the West Campus Library and dropping everything on a Tuesday night to head to Reed Arena for Breakaway. It was always a much needed break, and our outlook on Anatomy always seemed a bit different after hearing Gregg Matte preach! I am so proud of the work you did for Breakaway as an intern after we finished with A&M. It is such a small world that you became so close to my dear friend, Kelsey, during your intern year at Breakaway. That college ministry was truly blessed to have you and your beautiful smile!

Anatomy wasn't our only classroom adventure together at A&M. We actually randomly signed up for the same Beginning Tennis class. That blows my mind since there were a ton of Beginning Tennis sections to choose from. The Lord totally knew that I needed you in my life. We then proceeded to take Venture Dynamics together. I might have been more cautious about signing up with you for a class that involved ropes and heights after seeing your wonderful falling record (over completely random items)!

It's crazy to think that we ended up living right across from each other in San Antonio four years after graduating from A&M. I am so glad that I chose your apartment complex to reside in, and it blows my mind that I lived in a building directly across from your apartment. My residency year was SO crazy that I'm not sure if I would have made it without your positive, kind words everyday when I wanted to break down crying. You were always there to listen about a bad day and to calm my continual fears about my residency. We had great stress release times of watching "Strong Bad" and listening to "Real Mean of Genius" commericals together. It killed me when you left San Antonio in December of that year (darn graduation from nursing school!).

I am SO proud of the nurse that you have become...a fat, smoking, lazy nurse that is...HAHA...just kidding!!! I know that you are a ray of sunshine for every patient that you encounter. You have such a caring, serving, and Godly heart. I am so thankful God called you to be a nurse.

I had the time of my life on our adventure to the Aloha state in February/March of this year! What a trip of a lifetime, and it was so wonderful to get to experience it with you. Your laid back nature makes you a wonderful travel buddy, and I love that you can find humor in anything! We definitely make perfect travel buddies after both falling asleep on the Road to Hana (leave it to us)!

I continue to thank my God for you and your friendship! May you have a wonderful start to the decade that begins with a 3!!

My advice to you during your 30s...in the words of Pauline (our tour guide).."Always go to the loo-a before looking at the nature!"


Hawaii trip

OPERATION COTTON

OPERATION COTTON is set to commence tomorrow morning! Stay tuned for more details as to what this operation involves. I am going to create an acrostic to get it started with a bang!

Oh my goodness...what was I thinking?!?
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Watch for t-shirts, bumper stickers, and maybe even some TV public service announcements. Woohoo...here we go!

Is This the Way to Amarillo?!?

So I will be returning to my hometown soon! I just realized that I haven't been to Amarillo since February (see apron blog), and I haven't seen my mom since June. That just may be a record for me...not something I need to repeat though!

A few years ago, I remember hearing that a song about Amarillo was on the top of the music charts in England. Tony Christie did such a wonderful job with the song "Is This the Way to Amarillo" that it topped the English music charts in 1971 AND 2002! I think it may have resurged in popularity purely due to its exciting topic of Amarillo. Can you imagine what people in England think about Amarillo? It sounds like quite a sexy location...I mean....sweet Marie...who waits for me!

Many folks like to spoof the original Tony Christie video. I have attached a You Tube video for your pleasure of this awesome song! It is of the Royal Dragoon Guards who were serving in Iraq at the time!




Hopefully I will remember the path to Amarillo! I don't think that there will be a sweet Marie waiting for me, but a Steve, Vicki, and Sandie will do just fine!

I guess I will have to hug my pillow a little longer...dreaming dreams of Amarillo...sha la la la la la la la!!

Oh...and George Straight may now have some competition for my favorite hometown song...

The Big Sister Friend

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to a friend that I am blessed to call my "Big Sister" friend. It's not that you are that much older than me...it's just that you took care of me when I truly needed you!

I met you when I was a junior in high school. We instantly bonded. You were so kind to find out what was going on in my life! I remember sitting on the bar stools of my house and carrying on such a fun conversation about EVERYTHING. You were the outgoing girl who could talk to a wall, and I was the shy girl who hated talking to strangers...but we instantly clicked! I remember thinking how high class you were by the fact that you drove a new Ford Mustang, and you were the valedictorian of your high school class! And oh...let's throw in that you were the Luling Watermelon Thump Queen!! I never had such a classy friend!!

I arrived at Texas A&M in the fall of 1998 as a clueless Biomedical Science major. The horrible science classes quickly kicked my behind. You too were a Biomedical Science major and knew exactly how to encourage me and help me make it through the classes. You also made sure that I had a little bit of fun during my A&M career. I always got great football seats at Kyle Field because of having you (a junior!) pull my ticket to the game. I always looked forward to Tuesday nights as you would come pick me up in Mosher Circle, and we would head off to Breakaway together. That was back in the day when it was still located at Central Baptist Church! I would never have found a parking spot back on campus if I had driven myself!

If I had never met you, I might not be a pharmacist today! By meeting you, I met your wonderful crazy family! "We're not all crazy here!!" I got to spend a day in the wonderful Luling Discount Pharmacy where I started my pharmacy career by knocking over an ENTIRE pharmacy shelf full of medications. I think I turned five shades of red that day! Who would have thought that I would ever get into or make it through pharmacy school!

We got to experience graduate school together! You amazed me that you could go to PA school and be a wonderful wife at the same time...and then be pregnant during your last semester! I was proud of myself if I brushed my teeth at bedtime while I was in pharmacy school!

I was so blessed to stand by your side when you got married...wearing a naked dress and having cornrows in my hair was definitely one of my greatest looks! I will always treasure those pictures...haha! It has been so fun watching you become a mother to two sweet little boys and a girl on the way! You never got your bald-headed baby, but they sure were cute babies. There might be a chance for this last one!

I am so thankful that God placed you in my life, and that we have remained friends through all the crazy parts of our lives! We have been friends for 13 years now, and I thank my God everytime I think of you!

The In-The-Trenches-With-You Friend

I apologize for my blog hiatus and being late with these posts about my dear friends! That horrible BCPS test took all the power out of my brain for awhile!

HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY to a friend that I am blessed to call my "In-The-Trenches-With-You Friend!" I met you during my pharmacy school interview. We can definitely call that a "day at war!" You sat next to me in the huge lecture hall during that horrible interview day, and I knew instantly that there was something special about you! I think we kept each other sane on that day! You were already encouraging me, and I didn't even now you! I knew that we had to be friends since our names are almost exactly the same...you're just missing an important "I!!"

Little did I know that we would soon be spending FOUR LONG YEARS together! They weren't long because it was with you...they were LONG because we were getting our butts kicked in the trenches of pharmacy school! Actually...they weren't long at all...the time flew by, and we didn't even have time to sleep! We of course sat next to each other during the entire first year of pharmacy school. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do as no one could figure out how to say your name or my name! I kinda wished that Dr. Weidanz had gotten our names confused for Immunology because I truly could have used your awesome grades!

You amazed me by how fast you jumped into being a leader for all of our pharmacy organizations! Your many activities encouraged me to dive right into the trenches of the organizations with you! I never knew how you held all of those leadership positions and worked so much at Walmart pharmacy during those years. You probably still haven't caught up on all your sleep deprivation!!

Now that we are many miles apart from each other, we rely on the phone and funny emails to keep in touch! Oh and by the way...why did you move to Arizona?!?...you know it's hot there...HAHA!! I love it when I get off work and have one of your crazy LONG messages on my voicemail! I miss your laugh! I miss your teasing! I will always treasure our roadtrip around Minnesota for Julie's wedding. Only you would allow me to see go to Walnut Grove and see the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum.

We shed many tears and shared many laughs during our journeys to become pharmacists. I truly am proud to call you my friend as you are a wonderful pharmacist! I know that your customers love you, and I can just picture how patient and helpful you are to your elderly patients! You truly are living the "Oath of a Pharmacist." Thanks for making my pharmacy school journey so fun...it would have been miserable without you!

Here's a toast to staying out of the trenches!! But if you end up in another trench, I've got your back!!

Friends are Friends FOREVER!!

I recently came across an article on MSN titled "7 Friends Every Woman Needs." It made me think about how blessed I am with the friendships that the Lord has given me.

I would like to start a new series on my blog honoring my AWESOME friends, and I have chosen to compose a blog post about each one of these friends on their birthday. Some of the friends that I will choose to blog about don't even read my blog or know it exists...it's just for fun...and it allows me an outlet to thank the Lord for each one of them.


The History Friend

Happy Birthday to the AWESOME Christian woman that I am blessed to call my history friend!! I must admit that I copied a lot from the letter I wrote to you before your wedding...they were special words then, and I wanted to make sure I got it all right!

I met you in August 1998 (goodness...11 years ago...almost to the day!), it was definitely a life changing month for me!! I had not only moved more than 500 miles away from my parents, but I met YOU during that month!! I know that God was totally there on that one fateful August afternoon when He had me ask you to go to Freebird’s with me. I typically was a shy girl, but for some reason when I saw your bright, warm face, I just had an urge to ask you to come out to lunch with me. That was definitely one of the greatest decisions that I have ever made!! (A much better decision than me choosing to wear a "House of Blues" t-shirt and you choosing to wear a tie-dyed "Joe's Crab Shack" t-shirt.) We have truly evolved in our fashion sense...haha!!

You were an answered prayer for me! You were an answered prayer from my mother’s awesome prayers! I always wanted a friend like you while I was in high school, and I prayed that God would bring me a once in a life time friend while at A&M. You fit the mold of my prayers for a friend: Christian (which you are an AWESOME woman of God), honest, great listener, considerate, trustworthy, compassionate, and of course FUN! I never had to question if you would be there for me because you were always there before I even had to ask for help, and you always gave me wise advice.

You will never realize how much your cheerful words and praises helped me throughout my time at A&M as well as in present day. I think we all know how easily stressed and worked up I can get about pointless events in my life! Every time that I move now, I find a ton of “Good Luck” signs and notes you made for me throughout our A&M career that I have saved in different plastic containers. Your wise words and Bible verses were so meaningful to me, and I probably never thanked you enough for the encouragement. I treasure your kind words and artwork, and I know that I will never get rid of them!

You brushed away my tears continuously! I will definitely never forget how much trouble you went through to make sure I got back into Underwood Hall after finding my lost student ID card. I was already having a meltdown due to my upcoming Chem 101 test, and you knew exactly how I was going to react once I found out I had lost my ID card. You had only known me for a couple of weeks, but you were such a generous and understanding friend to go through all that for me. You always listened to me relay my bad day and offered words of wisdom. I never had to cry alone with you around!

There are so many “little things” that I share with you, that I’m not sure if I know where to begin, and I definitely know I will be leaving a ton of stuff out! Probably my favorite “little thing” was eating dinner with you almost every night. I never realized how much my family meant to me until I left for A&M. It was so refreshing to get to eat and PRAY with you every night at dinner. Another favorite “little thing” that stands out in my mind is going for ice cream on a Wednesday night freshman year! We were like two prisoners getting released from prison when we left campus that night! I think we may be the only 2 people on the face of this earth to laugh at that experience, but I still remember the fun we had! A huge “little thing” that I miss dearly to this day is our time in my room with you sitting on my bed. I’d pay good money to get one more night again where you would come sit on my bed and we would just cut-up about the day and of course procrastinate our studying! Maybe I could hear you say once more..."I want to marry an AGGIE!!!" (I'm SO glad it eventually happened for you!) I also miss the “little thing” of making sure that the other didn’t oversleep for a final. We were always like each other’s mother!

I feel that we really progressed to "mature" women by the time we graduated from A&M. We had those many days and nights of wanting to just be through with school and the stress that it entails, but we helped each other through all the hard times. You were my shoulder to cry on during the times I thought I was going to fail, and you always had a joke to cheer me up. You always had a way of entertaining me in the library even by sending me funny messages over the study carrel! You were also always there to tell me I was having a wonderful hair day when it probably was one of the worst hair days of my life!!

I prayed hard that our friendship would not cease after we left A&M. I knew that we were going to be living far apart and doing our own separate things, but I truly wanted to still be connected to you. You were my faithful friend that talked to me every Sunday night, and I SO looked forward to your calls. It was a rough start for me at pharmacy school, and you always cheered me up! You are such a faithful friend that always remembers my zany stories and asks me about my life! At the age of 80, I still hope to reminisce with you about our fun memories!

It has been so fun watching you in the role of wife. You have truly blossomed in this role, and I am so happy to see you in such a solid, godly marriage. We each have our own "adult" lives, but I always know I can pick up where I left off with you. I am so proud of all of your work accomplishments and am so proud to call you my friend.

You will ALWAYS be my dear friend! In the words that you have often shared with me over the past 11 years (and I hope many years to come), “Thanks for being my friend!”

"I Hope You Had the Time of Your Life"

So I heard this song by Green Day tonight and it got the squeaky wheels in my brain turning. I have had writer's block recently due to the pressure of blogging about my Ohio trip, which I SERIOUSLY need to do, but let's go with this thought for now!! I love you Ohio relatives!!

This song by Green Day makes me think of happy times at the end of my high school career and just puts me in the mood to reminisce about my times growing up in A-town. I began thinking how romantic it sometimes seems about the possibility of moving back to A-town and falling in love with a local or even someone from my past. This crazy notion is probably due to my love for the now cancelled TV show "Ed" and the few times I saw the TV show "October Road." These shows seem so glamorous to me because the show's main character was at a crossroads in his life and picks up everything from his exciting life in the big city and moves back to his hometown to all the people he left behind. Ok...so the people I left behind are basically my parents and my cat, Sandie...not so glamorous for me!! I unfortunately don't have a cool group of pretty, single friends back in A-town, nor does one of my friends own a restaurant/bar where I could find the love of my life. So maybe I need to be like "Ed" (the "Bowling Alley Lawyer"), and open a pharmacy in a bowling alley. I do possess my own bowling shoes and my dad does have his own bowling ball.... Maybe one of my customers will be a blast from my past AND the love of my life...haha!!! I also dream of having a smoke-free bowling alley where I counsel everyone on smoking cessation and hand out nicotine patches like they were candy!!!

I digress... So I actually guess I did get the chance to move back to my hometown after college when I attended pharmacy school in A-town, but I definitely wouldn't call it an "Ed" experience. I did reunite and date a childhood friend, but he then proceeded to be a complete jerkface and break my heart just a tad. I guess I just should have bought a bowling alley, and it might have worked out!! The bowling shoes just weren't enough?!? I digress AGAIN...

So now on to my serious point...I have been convicted lately about not being content with where my life is RIGHT NOW. I either keep thinking about the great times of my life in the past or wanting great times to happen for me in the future. Why are we wired like that?!? Why am I complaining and not feeling satisfied when I have a God who is giving me constant grace and is in control over EVERYTHING in my life. I pray that God will keep teaching me to be content with everyday, and that I will learn that it is through Christ that I get my strength and sustenance.

Philippians 3:13-14

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."


PS...For all my 2 readers from Fort Worth, I am in NO way planning to leave Fort Worth anytime soon...I just dream about weird things...that's why I should probably have an anonymous blog!!!