52-week blog challenge 2019

Well, I decided to try this "52 week blog challenge" and write about a designated topic each week....and I'm already a week behind! But what can I say - week one ended up begin super crazy busy at home and at school! Ha!

So here's the first topic: Meet My Best Friend

That's easy... 🙂

 Emily.

We've known each other since we were kids, but we technically weren't friends until college. She was my older sister's age so we didn't do much together when we were younger.

However, we both started our degree at Auburn University at the same time and were thrown together during a 6-week study abroad program in England. Everyone thought that everyone else already knew each other so we all locked onto a "buddy". Mine was Em. She loved me through braces and weird haircuts (and colors) and all. [Funny story, while in Scotland, she helped me dye my hair "blonde" only to have it come out very coppery-red! 100% my fault, by the way. Haha!]


 

Flash forward to more college - she and I were in many classes together so I would go over to study at her house the night before tests. She lived with her parents, so a lot of times that meant her dad would be up and would cook us breakfast, and then sometimes give us a ride to campus. Many sleepovers were had, where we cuddled up and shared our hearts - many tears, many dreams, many heartaches, and many laughs. One of which was when she promised me her brother wasn't coming home so I could sleep in his room (since there were several of us staying over). Little did she (or I) know that her brother indeed was going to come home that night and he flipped the light on freaking me (and him) out at about 2:30 am! We also seemed to be obsessed with doing photo shoots! At least now we have documentation of what we thought we looked like when we looked good! Haha! Game nights were also a fairly consistent thing over at her house. She also let me butt-in on movie date nights with Matthew, even though he fell asleep during the movie most times. 

Flash forward a few more years to their wedding - it was marvelous! I couldn't believe how beautiful she looked! She glowed. She danced. She smiled. She laughed. We all laughed. It was a completely delightful day getting "Memily" married!

Life continued speeding past. We became adults..."adultier" adults. I moved to a different city (again). We had less "free time" - grownup-hood is a lot different than college. But distance didn't keep us apart. There was always room in their guest room for me to stop by and visit. She still made time for me in her "married friends" world - I never felt excluded for not being in the same stage of life as her. I'm grateful for that. 

 

I remember exactly where I was when she told me she was pregnant. I screamed in excitement and couldn't wait until this sweet little babe had entered the world. He is the cutest little kiddo with the chunkiest cheeks and he calls me "Aunt Hannah"!

One of the hardest things was when I visited with her the last time before moving here to Budapest. She was wearing a neon orange shirt and I treasured every moment I had with her that day. We wrote cards (she snuck one into my bags and it's on my bedroom wall here). She helped give direction on packing clothing. We ate lunch with my cousin and her kids in town. We sat on the back porch in the shade. We even tried to take selfies without falling out of the big swing in the back yard, which naturally turned into a lot of laughing.

And then I left. Moving 5,000+ miles to Budapest. I still treasure her friendship so much!

She finds time in her busy-mom schedule to face time with me (even with the time change and a toddler's nap schedule). She includes me in design decisions in her house. She messages me out of nowhere to tell me what random thing she did that day or how she needs to do the dishes (which usually I do, too). She makes sure that I am filled in on all the new information. She was dedicated in letting me know she was pregnant with another sweet baby and made sure I made it online to see the gender reveal (I was definitely crying, y'all!).


A GIRL! She's having a girl...and it'll be while I'm over here. 


It is so hard to be so far away from the many people I love. How I wish I could be in two places at once.


But, I will just have to settle for Em hugs and baby snugs in the summer when I come back to visit.