Day 9

First of all, I am reporting live from my brand spankin' new computer!! YES! I love it and its already 293487293487 times better than my last one:) I'm going back to my "30 day challenge" and pretending I'm just now on day 9, which should've been Sunday. I've had a test, a midterm, and million other things going on, so you'll just have to forgive me for my indiscretion. Now, I give you: The person who has gotten me through the most: Tiffany Tippy TK Keys Brubaker.

I love this picture of us, because its quite typical of our friendship: me doing something senseless/stupid/ridiculous and TK looking at me like the dummy I am but jumping in anyway. I believe we were at the Dalton fair in this one. Tiffany is my best friend. When I met her I didn't really want to be her friend, she scared me a little because she was SO HAPPY/PEPPY/EXCITED, but I needed a ride. We met the first day of band camp our freshman year, and have been inseperable (emotionally, anyway) ever since. Despite our living 4 hours apart, we manage to talk almost everyday and spend time together whenever possible. Given that I'm claiming her as the person who has helped me make it through the most, here's a list of things she helped me with:

1. Adjusting to college--first friend away from home & I definitely needed her then. We spent HOURS chatting it up, shopping (retail therapy, of course), walking/riding to practice together and "studying." We've also had about 30,000 sleepovers throughout our friendship. Tyler & I have been married 8 months, and I'm still not sure I've spent more nights with him than TK.  

2. Abusive boyfriend--she was an escape & certainly played a GIANT role in the healing process. Though I swore nothing was going on, she always knew better & was always checking in on me. She also snuck over to my apartment for much needed girl time when he wasn't around. Afterwards, she stuck around to help clean up the mess & help me get as close to "normal" as I could.  

3. Accountability--post abusive boyfriend I was mad at God & she helped me get my life back on track. She's never been subtle, but she would burn me CDs and casually slip praise & worship songs in the mix. On Halloween night (2007?) I completely broke down & she took care of me, despite other plans that she had. I have never doubted that she's always praying for me, and I for her.

4. Meeting the love of my life--she was the first person to know that I knew Tyler was the one. I called her immediately following our first real day and confessed that I'd marry him someday. We celebrated with a slumber party so I could re-tell all details involving our anti-climactic night.  

5. Wedding/Honeymoon--my matron of honor and she shared details of honeymoon activities with me that I was clueless about; I could never be thankful enough for that!

I know there are about 5000 other little things she helped me through too, but those are the big ones. She gets me through the day to day now with her encouraging words, even when I want to sulk and not hear them. Due to said abusive ex boyfriend (see #2), I have an intense red rose phobia, leading me to hate Valentine's day. Precious TK just told me to shoot the flower delivery man with a nerf gun (which was so absurd I couldn't not laugh in spite of myself) and reminded me the day would be over soon. She is the absolute portrait of a best friend, and I hope you have one just like her. I love you, TK, and I hope you realize just how thankful I am for your years of friendship!

XOXO,
Hannah