#1: Have you ever had a group of friends that you just can't imagine life before them? They came into your life and changed it so dramatically that its unrecognizable? I was lucky to get a group of those this year. Merilee and david were not the friends i was looking for. I always wanted to be friends with the cool trendy indie kids but i was always too intimidated by them. When i met david i thought he was one of them, but the more i get to know him the more i realize he's just david. Merilee was not what i was looking for in a best friend. I've always been the odd girl in church, the girl who doesn"t quite fit. When i found out merilee was from idaho i expected her to be a brat and just clash with me. Looking back on those first few faltering steps with both of them its a miracle we became friends at all, let alone the magnitude we are now. When people look at us they see three friends. No one is a tag along and no one matters more than the others. We're all equals. Sure merilee and i hang out more and have inside jokes without david but it never comes between the three of us. No matter what we say we know the other 2 are there no matter what. When dustin died last semester and i just needed to blow off steam merilee called up david and made sure we hung out in the middle of the week so i could make it through. David challenges me and makes me think and often makes my blood boil, but beneath that antagonist shell is a heart i know i have some claim on. Sometimes i feel like i'm beating against a brick wall but i know he feels and cares. Merilee is the doe of the group. She hates contention and shrinks away from us when we fight. Her gentle sweetness is what keeps me from hitting david sometimes. She is the balance to his heatedness. Between them is where i fit. Fisty, sassy and yet calm and loving. Most people don't see beyond the shell, but merilee and david took the time. They care. They care and i will always care about them.
#2:If you would've told me a year ago i'd find people who make me feel the way you make me feel i'd laugh. I'd tell you those people don"t exist. And if they did they don't exist for me. People don't love me the way i love them. I'm always the attatched one. The one who doesn't understand boundaries. The one who is always tagging along. You changed everything for me. You proved to me i am not alone. You brushed away the cobwebs in my heart and helped me open up again. You were the people who even though i'd fallen to the ground a long time ago were willing to push me back up. You showed me that things could be fixed. I was homeless and you gave me a home. I was starving and you fed me. I was fallen and you caught me. So our time together may be winding down but i know that no matter what storms weather us i will remember you. I will remember the lessons you taught me. I will remember you in my heart.
