The story of us

(No not that story. The story of Russell and I is a high school musical waiting to happen. And I will tell it eventually, if I ever get around to it, but not today.)

Besides my husband, I have several best friends... my sister, my mother, and my two sister's-in-law Tricia and Cara. But this is the story of my VERY best friend Jana and I. We met in 1994, our freshman year of high school, and maintained a continuous love-hate relationship right through senior graduation. We got along fine when we were together but never hung out on our own, or invited each other over for a sleepover, or called each other on the phone to talk for two hours about nothing (something I was a pro at). Looking back I couldn't really tell you why we didn't mesh but here are a few guesses...

Reason #1: the bitter homecoming rivalry. Our school rule at the time was that you couldn't be on the homecoming court two years consecutively. Jana was voted the freshman princess and the following year I was the sophomore princess. Jana was then the junior princess, and our senior year I was voted homecoming queen, while Jana wasn't even allowed to be on the court. I was quite unaware at the time but she will tell you that she deeply despised me that year :)

Reason #2: Jana played sports and I was a cheerleader. I think this is pretty self-explanatory.

Reason #3: Jana was better friends with all the boys in our grade and I had a tight-knit group of girlfriends. Our worlds just didn't overlap that much.

Reason #4: I was kind of a black & white goody-two-shoes and Jana went through a bit of a "rebellious phase", causing me to judge her quite severely when I saw her smoking outside of a Burger King once with an older boy and instantly condemn her to purgatory. I was real sweet like that.

BUT... all of that changed after high school, as is often the case. We went to the same church and started attending the same college-age group. And then when she started dating one of my husband's good friends we actually double-dated and HUNG OUT TOGETHER. And what do you know? We got along like peas and carrots!

Shortly after I had my first daughter and became a stay-at-home Mom, Jana and I started emailing back and forth a couple times a week, Jana telling me all her work horror stories, and me telling all of my baby stories, which turned into 2 & 3 year old devil-child stories, which evolved into girls-nights out and couples getaways together, and eventually found us where we are today: unable to live our lives without keeping each other completely and utterly up-to-date on every. single. detail. of the minutest importance.

Once we both went on a girls night out with Cara and Tricia (my aforementioned sisters-in-law who know me top to bottom), and as soon as we dropped Jana off at the end of the evening they remarked on how they hadn't realized just how alike we were. Cara used examples like: "Jana would sniff the air and at the same time you would say "ooh something smells good!" - it was like you were in sync!"

Well the truth is we are. We share a common love for: 

- The Lord

- our husbands

- shopping & fashion

- dessert

- pedicures

- date nights

- The Office & So You Think You Can Dance

- Broadway Musicals

- People and Entertainment Weekly magazines

- eating out

- naps

- being clean (we're weird)

- gifts

- reality tv shows that you would roll your eyes at

- our families - both immediate and extended

- and shall I keep going or did you fall asleep 10 minutes ago?

I think Jana is a gift to me from the Lord.  Someone outside of my family to confide in, laugh with, be real with, and help me not go insane from being with children all day long. Someone to call me instantly when a good sale is going on, or when I need to turn on Oprah RIGHT AWAY.

Everyone should have one of those kind of friends don't you think?