And it was basically awesome

For the past two days, one of my dear college friends, Hannah, has been here.  And it was basically one of the best times I have had in awhile.  Basically since the last time I was with girls from Purdue…so, the best time since Lauren’s wedding :)

We have the spent the past two days laughing, talking, praying together, going for walks, going to the pool, visiting friends here in town, picking unexpected raspberries, and thinking nearly constantly of Arby’s mozzarella sticks (which I hadn’t had in years…and hadn’t thought of in forever…but NEEDED while Hannah was here).

One of the things I most love about spending time with my dear friends (other than the fact that I have so few in my daily life, and it’s nice to feel like people like you) is the near constant stream of laughter and food.

Case in point.  At about midnight, Hannah was glancing through the Schwan’s brochure in our living room.  Every time she turned the page, I wanted something else to eat.  I kept saying, “Let’s go to the grocery store and buy chips and queso.  Oh, let’s get some cookies too.” 

She just kept laughing at me. 

Frankly, she thought I was kidding. 

I wasn’t. 

But she forgot that I knew how much she liked a good challenge.

Fifteen minutes later, I looked right at her and said, “If you were Lauren, we’d be on our way home with food right now.” 

Because frankly the Donut Story of 2006 shall forever live in infamy.  Thank you, Lauren, for sharing in that proud moment with me.  And I had already told Hannah all about it in hopes that she would be willing to be nearly as awesome as Lauren.

But Hannah, being ever so practical and frugal, convinced me we really didn’t need to go to the store to meet our food cravings.  They could be satisfied with the brownie mix in my cupboard.

So we mixed up the brownies, sans eggs, and dipped the batter straight from the bowl to our mouths as we talked until 5 this morning. 

We hit every topic under the sun.  And finally, after spending two days in my life as it normally looks, someone was able to understand my frustrations and pains in my current life situation.  I was so thankful to have her speak truth and affirm that it was okay that I am struggling.  I was able to look at her life from the outside and show her where she had definitely narrowly avoided some serious mistakes…and we thought long and hard about the consequences she would have been facing if things had gone differently.

We laughed.  We cried.  And we shared brownie batter.

And that is why I will forever love my college friends.  Every last one of them.