To My Best Friend, LYLAS

To My Best Friend, LYLAS

Today, I am flying to Colorado to celebrate the wedding of my best friend, Natalie Quinn. It will be my third time being a bridesmaid but first time in Colorado. This weekend has been in the works for almost a year and I cannot wait for it to start.

I met Natalie during our 7^th grade English class. There were so many crazy moments in that class that only bonded us together more as best friends. Our teacher had insanely long fake nails that clearly prevented her from doing any actual work. She’d do most of her instruction from her desk and would have students come to her to pick up any handouts to pass to the class. Rather than giving us a test on the Shakespeare play that we were reading, we had to make a Shakespeare coloring book. There was absolutely no organization to the class, but it was a lot of fun. We had plenty of time to gush over our love of Harry Potter (we each collected interviews, fact sheets recipes, and any kind of Harry Potter trivia we could find from mugglenet.com into large binders); or send notes back and forth to help with the rare difficult reading tests (sorry mom…); or talk about all the topics a middle school-er talks about like dancing, singing (we both tried out for the Dance team and ended up doing color guard instead), movies, and our crushes (Me—Rupert Grint who played Ron in Harry Potter and her—Orlando Bloom from Pirates of the Caribbean).

I remember worrying when we finished middle school that we would drift apart. She was going to Tallwood High School while I went to Kempsville. I had experienced the slow disconnect that happens sometimes with some friends, even with those who ended up at the same school as me. I knew it was a possibility. We were both busy with activities at our separate schools so we didn’t see each other as much as we previously did. However, We hung out every year for the Grand Illumination with my dad in Norfolk during November, hosted one or two sleepovers over the summer, and then every so often we’d run into each other at band competitions since we both did color guard.  Even though we didn’t see each other as often in high school, when we did spend time together it felt as though no time had passed.

While in college, however, our friendship grew the strongest. She had a car so she was able to visit William and Mary several times and helped me move into my dorm twice. She became friends with my college friends and got along easily with my boyfriend at the time. She has such a sweet and bubbly personality that it’s contagious! One of the things that I think also brought us closer was that I finally had a serious relationship. Natalie and I  were able to talk about everything more openly and give advice to each other. As times got difficult, we were both there to give support when we needed it. When we were having a great time, we helped celebrate each other.

Junior year was a tough year for both of us. Not only was it possibly the most difficult academically, it was also hard emotionally. She moved to Colorado for the last two years she went to Johnson and Wales. That meant that she was no longer within a one-day driving distance. I would see her even fewer times a year. I wasn’t able to visit her in Charlotte, but getting out to Colorado was definitely a harder task with how expensive it is to travel out there.

Her first semester so far away was really tough on her too obviously. She was away from her awesome family. She was always such a beach girl and now she was around mountains and snow all the time. However, that was when she met the love of her life and fell in love with her new home. That’s when she met Aaron.   He was there to comfort her and be there as she was getting accustomed to a whole new area of the country. It did take me a bit to warm up to Aaron, but once I did, it was easy to see their connection. He makes her so happy and they truly are partners. They have created their own little family out in Denver. They have two cats and their sweet chocolate lab Bruno. They own a house that they are decorating and putting together. It has been so wonderful to see Natalie working so hard and achieving several of her major goals. I feel bad that I haven’t been out before to see the life she’s created for herself.

But I’m on my way.

We are Bachelor/ette viewers, bakers, wine drinkers, readers, peppermint mocha drinkers, confidants, supporters, and along with many other things, most importantly like sisters to each other.  The past year and a half has been hectic and busy with me moving coast to coast and working several jobs, and her working,  wedding planning, moving, and filling out internship applications. But, even with all if that, we still find time every couple of weeks to skype or talk on the phone for a long time. Talking with her always helps me feel better about any situation I’m experiencing. She truly defines what a best friend is and I’m so grateful. 

I feel very honored to be one of her bridesmaids. I am so excited to hear her vows to the man she loves before we all dance the night away. It’s going to be a fantastic weekend that will start the rest of her life as a married woman. I am so happy I get to witness it!