“Because I knew you… I have been changed for good.”

{WARNING: incessant babble alert}

I have been thinking a lot recently about how blessed I am to have the girlfriends that I have. Everyone always thinks that their friends are the greatest, but I really do know that God has blessed me with the absolute best group of women I could ever ask for. These are the girls that I have known since we were little babies, just 18 and starting school at UK. We had no idea how much our lives would change over the next {le sigh} eight (nine? however long it has been) years. We were all Adpi’s together, and have been inseparable since day one. Heck after we moved out of the sorority house, we piled 8 girls in one house, and 7 in the house next door, and called it the “Adpi compound” for two years. It was pretty crowded for sure, but some of my best memories. After college; jobs, boys, whims, and dreams spread us out all over the country. We have girls in Kentucky, Minnesota, Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Chicago Illinois, Mississippi, California heck we have one even moving to Sweden! No matter how far apart we are, it is so neat to see us all come together for each other. I’m gonna get sappy on y’all real quick, but seriously we hardly miss a beat! One of my good friends Emily recently had the first baby girl of our pledge class, and can I just tell you my inbox never had less than 56 emails in it. I swear I think we all (what, 30 of us?) had a HUGE email chain going in discussion, and anticipation of baby girl. I am pretty sure the phrase “OMG. Chills, tears, everywhere” was written 500 times. HA. Here is first pic of Emily and her sweet baby. We are pretty much abnormally obsessed with each other {lame I know} but hey, we love it.

So I wanted to post something to share with you guys. My friends Kate is a fantastic writer (we have to encourage her to keep up her blog because its hysterical!) But I wanted Kate to do a little guest blogging here for us. Subject: our wonderful group of girls and how no matter where we are in our lives-we are always together! So here goes…

“8 years and one month ago as I got in the car to make the four hour drive home from my freshman year of college, I had a pain in my chest, you know the pain… the one that comes with anxiety and worry, that feeling that you have left something behind or forgotten the most important item for the trip ahead. I remembered pulling over and looking once more through all my belongings, as I got back in the driver’s seat I realized what was missing… the people and faces I had grown so used to being surrounded by every day, my wonderful beyond this lifetime friends. As you can imagine it took a little more than 4 hours to get home that day, with the tears clouding my view…

1460 days, 350 parties, 100 visits to tally ho, two keys, and Rupp, countless amounts of laughter, tears, 68 credit hours, 50 road trips and 1 amazing pledge class later….. as I walked across the stage and became a college graduate, I got that same feeling in the pit of my stomach and chest, a true “bittersweet moment”. A new era had begun, adulthood, and despite every angle I tried I knew I couldn’t pack them in the car with me to drive away once again.

1460 days, 1040 work days, 208 weekends, 200 trips and 200 tearful goodbyes, countless “grown up hangovers”, amazing weddings, a terrible funeral, and 2 babies later… I find myself at my desk just waiting for the email chains to roll in so I can get the latest updates in the lives of the most amazing people I know.

Sometimes I think “what if”… I hadn’t chosen UK, I hadn’t chosen ADPi, or worse what if they hadn’t chosen me. What if I hadn’t moved away, and we all still lived in the same town. What if we were all still able to be a few doors down when we needed a shoulder to cry on, and wingman to go out with, or someone to share our joys with. Then I remember; “What if’s” don’t matter… this was the path I chose, because it was the path for me… and when I get that, “I left something behind feeling”… I am just one email chain away from knowing no matter where I go or what happens they are all right by my side.”

Ok so I definitely cried when she sent me this. HA. Point is: I am so blessed to have the friends I have. End of story. No matter where we all live, we are stuck with each other forever! Ha. I love you girls, and I am better because I know each one of you!

So Cheers Pledge Class ’02, best decision we ever made!