a friends a friend forever....

This is one of my favorite songs... for those of you that don't know it, you should look it up!  Michael W Smith is the singer... Every time I hear this song, I see so many of my friends.  Now I am not talking about the imaginary ones..  I am talking about all my friends.  I see us in elementary school making new best friends.  I see us joining middle school together with combining 3 different elementary schools, falling into friendships.  And I see us excited for high school, trying to fit in as freshmen even with small cat fights at the lockers.  There are so many memories I have from school, and have made so many friends that I am still close with.  I also as an adult have great memories of places that I have worked, and the friendships that I have made.  I believe that I am a little shy at first meet.  I know that some of you would disagree but that is because you know ME now.  As I have gotten older I feel like it's harder to make friends...

I consider many of my friends best.  Some you have know forever, and even if you haven't seen them in a long time, you catch up like it was yesterday.  Some you haven't known forever but there is a connection there and you can't wait to get to know them better.  I have so many great memories with my friends, new and old, I can't wait to make more.

Michelle: we have known each other for 20 + years.. ( I almost chocked on my coffee with the number)  I can't remember the exact way that we met, but I do know that we were in Mrs. Westergreen's class.  Ah the singing... I will always remember her for that.  I know that she introduced me to Stephanie Chiappuzzo, and the 3 of us had so much fun hanging out and so many laughs! Cruising around in Shell's Chevy Sprint on St. Street in the Ville, and working at Mc Donalds together because "Heath, you have to work with me"!

Hope:  well meeting her in 5th grade was a blessing.  We had moved that summer and I didn't know any one.  The teacher made her show me around, and I followed her to a seat, and a nother, and finally she started talking to me when all the kids were coming in, telling me each of their names and a bit about them.  We were fast friends.  Of course I love her like a sister and we have had our tiff's too.  I once threw rocks at her.. she forgave me after we met in the bathroom and cried.  Our junior year we had a couple great double dates, and even though we don't see each other often enough as we have gotten older, when ever we do.. she's like coming home, and I love her.

HeatherB:  We met 6th grade, and sang together.  Since we were both Heather's I think that Mrs. Westergreen figured we were met to be together and sat us by each other.  Hanging out with her at her dad's, bubble bath and Salt N Pepper... ah the good ol days.  We both got married young, and didn't stay in close contact, but we have found our way back to each other and I feel like she is as close to me as ever.. we talk at least once a week via text and emails.. I look forward to her messages!

The Eliason ladies Keri and Katie:  Meeting these girls in 6th grade at a birthday party and then becoming friends in middle school.. oh the memories of the van, mall trips their dad would take us too, spinach picking and then a summer of strawberry.  Staying the night was always so much fun, and Kathy was great to all their friends.  Keri and I went trick-or-treating junior yr in masks so we could get candy and no one would know us in Marysville.. Katie and I cleaned her room after they sold their house to move to the lake, and found a couple hundred dollars in an old purse.. so nice for her to give me some as a finder fee!  Throwing snow on Kent when he didn't believe that it had snowed and we didn't have school for the day.. I am proud of these ladies and that we have grown up, but never grown apart.

ChristineM:  Ah the friendship that grew from a client.  I will forever be great full for all her help in the planning and orgionaizeing of my wedding.  She was a true blessing.  We have had many laughs in the salon late at night, fun dinners and glasses of wine after her nail appointments.  Flip flop races back from dinner to her house, Vegas pool time, shopping trips, and lazy evening Real Housewives marathons.. she is a true friend of mine and I am so glad that she walked in to the salon to get her jacked up nails fixed ( even if she was scared of me at first)

I could go on and on about my friends and stories, but I am sure like me, you have other things to do today!

I think that in life, as we get older, it is harder to make friends.  Not that you can't, but that life is busier than in school.  Marriage, family's, and  distance can all get in the way of life.  But friendships are a blessing and I am so happy to have all my friends.  New and old.  I have made some amazing friends from GJ that I will cherish for ever, and when I go in and see them, or meet up outside of the salon, or even travel to Vegas... it's like yesterday that we worked together.  I hope that the friendships  I have made in ML turn into some amazing life long friends...

in my mind... a friends a friend forever....

Heath

i'm not a parent....

Yesterday was our 3 year anniversary.  Like the years past, we went to Cave B and had dinner.  I really enjoy that place, the views are beautiful, the restaurant is small, and never crowed.  Also there are no kids.  Not before you all go and judge, I like kids.  I just feel that there are places that kids shouldn't be, nor do they really want to be there.  This has been a conversation that I have had with many friends in the past few weeks.  I work in a salon.  It's not big, but I love it.  I have worked in a salon as a nail tech for almost 16 years.  I have worked in 5.  I have a couple favorites, and they are all so different.  GJ was, and always will be my favorite.  It's a 5 star salon, and as the nail department we were considered part of the spa.  Not that I agreed with that in a couple ways.  The music was one of the reasons, but I did like that it was for the most part quiet.  See, there were so few times that kids were even brought into that part of the salon, that I can really only remember one time.  Of course it was when a client of mine was from out of town, and she brought her 3 year old in get her nails done.  The mother assured me that she was going to sit on her lap and be so good.  Yeah.. right...  Because this child really wanted to sit with her mom for an hour fill...  Now here is where it gets dicy... the child is sitting on her mom's lap.. moving all around while I have a sharp file in my hand, trying to get this woman's nails done.  Her child is not quiet while there are pedicures going on, so I am trying to hurry while she is wiggling around and telling her mom that she wants down.  I finally get the filing done, and then the products have to come out.  Now most of you don't know what I am talking about when I tell you what I need, and what is in all the stuff I use, but lets just say that it's liquid, powder, a brush that can't be touched by hands. I need everything free of dust.  So here I am.. expected to be artistic, steady handed, and get my client done in the time she is scheduled for because I have more than one...  After the second finger I am ready to bust... her child who I am not blaming, is crying, trying to get out of her mom's lap, touching all the things on my desk, moving to grab the lap, asking for her nails to be polished, and wanting to get off and walk around.  Super... I tell her that she needs to take a min. and try and get her daughter to calm down because not only is she making my job harder with the death grip on her mom's fingers, but she is disrupting the two pedicures going on in the close rooms in the nail department.  See this is where I am having an issue.  It's hard on me.. but it's also hard on the other guests that are trying to enjoy their services... so it's not that I don't like kids... it's that there are some places that I feel like not only they shouldn't be there.. but that they DON'T want to.

At dinner last night Matt and I talked about if we thought that we might have another exchange student after our dear Hanna leaves.  I told him that really I guess we will see how we both feel after she is gone.  We have a child who depends on us, loves us, we take care of her, enjoy doing things with her and have her presence in our house.  How will I feel when she is gone?  Back to Brazil.. not a place I can just go and see her when I miss her.  Matt said to me last night "I like our life".  I agree..  We are a childless married couple.  I see this written.. and it's weird to me.  I mean, I KNOW we don't have kids, but seeing it spelled out as a "childless couple" is weird to me.  I like our life too.. it's all I know.  I won't ever be a mom.  Matt wont be a dad.  But we have each other, the dogs, and the ability to do what ever we want when we want.  There is something to say about that for sure.  I tell my friends all the time, just because Matt and I don't have kids, doesn't mean that we don't like them.  It doesn't mean that we don't want to be invited to your kids' birthday parties, or over to your house for dinner, or see or know what your kids are doing.  It means that we CANT have them.  It's what it is.  In my mind....


Heath