Ode to Friendship

This week, I have the honor of attending the wedding of a dear friend of mine. 

We were "Like, totally BFF'S" ever since I moved to Georgia when I was 12. We were the weirdest, loudest, most obnoxious kids ever. 

We spent most of our teenage years having sleepovers, fighting with each other, making stupid, I mean awesome, movies and music videos, but mostly just talking. She taught me so much about who I could be, and is a huge reason I am who I am today. 

The first time I ever really showed someone a song I'd written was with her, behind my closed bedroom door, with pillows and blankets up against the bottom of the door so nobody could hear me. She's the reason I got courage to share my talent, and is the first person who told me to "Go for it." 

She's also the King of Beers. 

Ok, that was a joke. And probably only funny to me. But anyway. 

I can't even put together all of the times that she saved me from doing something totally stupid, or helped me when I needed it most. No matter how dumb I could be sometimes, she never judged me or made me feel like I was a bad person. I know I wasn't always the best of friends to her. I could be immature and selfish. But she was always there, no matter what, and for that I will always be grateful. 

We used to talk about our futures. We both "knew" who we would marry, and both "planned" on serving full time missions for the LDS church we belong to. I got married to some guy (and by "some guy" I mean the man of my dreams I didn't know existed at the time) from college, and didn't end up serving a full time mission. Melissa pressed forward to her mission, but life had other plans for her, and she is now marrying some guy (and by "some guy" I mean the man her of dreams that she didn't know existed until now). They look absolutely perfect for each other, and I can't wait to meet the lucky fellow. 

 Life has taken different directions than we'd planned. We were supposed to marry a set of brothers, be next door neighbors, and raise up the most obnoxious kids ever. But this works too.

I was honored to have Melissa travel to California for my wedding back in 2011.

She was there for me at 5am as I got my hair and make-up done, and helping me not totally explode out of anxiousness.

 She was there to help me lace up my wedding dress.

She's been there for everything. Love you Mel-oo-hoo! I am so incredibly happy for you. Thanks for letting me share in your special day, I can't wait! 

What husbands are for.

So, minutes before church yesterday, I got a call from my boss.

"Hey, instead of coming in at 5am tomorrow can you come in at 2:30am? It would really help us out."

Talk about a sabbath day damper! 

"Uh, yeah, I guess so. Five hours or eight hours?"

"Up to you."

Yeah, like I'd work 8 hours by choice after getting up in the middle of the night. 

"Let's say five. So 2:30am?"

"Actually, let's go ahead and make it 2 o'clock."

Yeah. Let's just go ahead. Right. Kay. Awesome. 

"Awesome. Kay. See ya tomorrow."

Click.

So, instead of enjoying my sunday evening with Mark, I went to bed at 9pm. I should have earlier, but who wants to go to bed at 5pm?

Mark tucked me in and said a prayer with me, then went to go clean the house while I slept.

I woke up at 1:15am, a complete zombie. I noticed that Mark was still not next to me. I got up and turned on the bathroom light, and then Mark walks in and gives me the biggest hug.

He knew that staying up and seeing me off would make it easier for me to go (if he was in bed, snoozing away, I would be about 20% more bitter).

Suddenly going to work at that unearthly hour didn't seem so horrible.

Okay, it still did. And I came home and slept until 1pm. But having him there to send me off with a prayer and a few hugs made all the difference. Not a day goes by that I don't feel incredibly blessed to be married to this selfless, sacrificing, silly man.