Alli

Our first picture together! 11/11/2006. Apparently
standing on rest stop picnic benches was the thing to do. 

Today is 11/11, a day I always pay attention to. I still make little wishes when I see the clock display 11:11, mostly because I know this number has brought me luck in the past. On this day in 2006 I became friends with a person who has shaped my life in many ways, and who has been the best of friends.

Reunited after I spent 4 months in
Brazil as a senior in highschool.

Moving to South Dakota my junior year of highschool was a tough transition for me. I was too shy to make friends at school and didn't have room in my schedule to take any "fun" classes like choir or art where I could have gotten to know other students better. Instead I ended up making friends in the homeschool group, but by the time November rolled around I hadn't really met anyone my age. 

Being studious on a Paris tour bus.

My mom approached me with the idea to go on a college visit in Kansas and stay there with Sarah, who was a freshman, had lived in our neighborhood in Nebraska and is still the closest thing I have to an older sister. I thought it was a great idea until my mom said I'd be going with Alli and her sister Susan, driven by their mom. Situations where I have to spend extended time with people I don't know well have always terrified me, and this was no exception. But I sucked it up and had a wonderful time. I remember us three highschoolers sitting in Sarah's walk-in dorm room closet and sharing secrets... it was a bonding moment and the beginning of something beautiful.


Our friendship took a few months to gain momentum, but that summer we went on a summer program at a college in California together, and though we were hardly glued at the hip there, we had tons of fun together.

Mojitos at the Brazilian grill,
summer 2011

We haven't lived in the same state since she went to college in Kansas (guess that visit paid off!) and me in Indiana, but we've always found time for each other when possible. We've spent time together in Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, and while she studied in Florence and I in Angers, we even met in Paris for a lovely weekend. Now I'm in Casablanca and she's in Texas studying for a PhD in Philosophy, because she's incredibly bright and talented, much more so than she realizes. 

Al brought up this picture
recently. Goofing around in
our Paris hotel room I
pretended to be a "Muslim bride."
Hmmm.

Alli is the first person I go to when I'm in a sticky situation and need some unbiased perspective. She calmly listens to my troubled rants and responds with such practicality and wisdom that I'm routinely put in my place. All those philosophy books must be having an effect! She's the kind of person that when our South Dakota visits only overlap one day out of a whole year, she drives up to our acreage when it's already late and stays up talking on my bed late into the night, and then has to get on a plane at 6am the next morning. She's the kind of friend that brings me a Starbucks with Bride written on it as I get my hair done the day of my wedding, after staying up late into the night at bonfires with my brothers and other guests, when I was fast asleep. She's a friend that I can't be thankful enough for. 

Summer 2013

I guess my only regret would be that we never took a picture together at my wedding... not sure how that happened. 

But anyway, happy anniversary Al. Thank you for your friendship. Love you girl.






________________
update: 
Well phew it seems like we DID get a picture in at the wedding after all!