In case you're wondering, yes, I am skipping #3. I didn't know how to answer that one. So here we go.
1.
Tell about a friend from each major stage of your life, and let
us know why you think of that person as your friend.
"Each major stage of my life" seems like a funny way to put it. I'll just talk about people who have been some of my best friends. We all know that some of the best friends I have are family, so I'll just talk about the ones that aren't.
1. Gina Bond. She was my friend starting in middle school. She was my best friend for a long time. Gina has a fun sense of humor. I was introduced to her because she was a new girl who happened to be the cousin of one of Jennifer's friends. She freely made jokes about boogers and other such things, which I found startling and hilarious. She made me laugh all the time. I remember we used to write notes to each other and pass them to each other during breaks from class. My kids will probably never have any reason to appreciate fancy ways of folding notes, but, boy, I sure did! I had a few favorites. Unfortunately, I can't remember any of them!
Gina played the clarinet in the band right up until high school, and then she decided to play the tuba. This was kind of funny because she was always kind of a short little thing, and for some reason that meant she couldn't use a sousaphone for marching band. She'd just fall over. So they ended up just strapping a regular tuba onto her and a way she went.
Gina was always really good at acting. I was jealous for a long time because I was a horrible actor. But I was also really proud of her because she did such a good job and was so fun to watch. Another thing I remember was either our junior or senior year in high school we were both trying out for all-state. She was there for tuba. I don't think she ever did choir. Anyway, I'd never heard a tuba solo before, but I sat and listened to her practice and was thoroughly wowed. :)
We also went on some double dates together. Those were fun to plan, and we had a lot of fun on those dates.
We kind of grew apart after high school a bit. We were roommates the first year of college and the last semester before I got married. We just had kind of moved on - me to Jeremy and her to her drama club friends. I guess I've always felt a little sad about that. I was obsessed with Jeremy. I wish I'd spent more time with her. We are still friends. It's just never been the same. Still, I love her self-confidence. She was always willing to try new things and put herself out there. I love her way of approaching life, always ready to joke about things that go wrong. She's definitely a keeper.
2. Jeremy. He has been my favorite ever. I think I've already discussed him a lot. But he has stuck with me through thick and thin somehow. His testimony never falters. I'm thankful to have him as my husband and as my children's father, and that's one big reason why. I hope my children will be as strong in the Gospel. I love that he teases. It makes his eyes twinkle. That's another thing - watching the different things that make his eyes twinkle. That is good fun. :) We have a lot of fun together. I'm so glad I get to keep him.
3. Heather Clark. Heather was my best friend in Globe. I remember awkwardly introducing myself to the new girl in the ward while quilting with the Relief Society and wondering what she thought of me. Heather had a little boy just Michael's age, and then she had a little girl just before I had Jill. I really enjoyed just sitting and chatting with her. I admired how she liked getting to know all kinds of people, while I just kind of stuck with the LDS crowd. She felt comfortable talking to anyone and being their friend. And she felt totally comfortable chatting in group settings as well. She was just good to talk to. She told me once that I was her best friend in Globe. I was touched by that. One time I didn't want to go to the Temple alone, and she went with me. I appreciated that a lot. She listened to me as I talked through some of the hardest things I ever went through. She was the one I told first about baby Timmy coming.
I think she was hurt when we decided to move to Cedar City. You could just see it in her eyes. They moved to the Salt Lake City area just before we moved. They moved back to Arizona after we did, but now they live in the valley. Both Heather and her husband spoke Spanish on their missions, so they were happy to find a Spanish immersion school in both Salt Lake and in the valley. Heather had some really tough pregnancies, but she ended up with 3 kids. I just think the world of her. I never hear from her, though. She's not good at emails and such, but that's OK.
4. Tia Fawson. Tia was my best friend in Cedar City. She was in our ward. She told me once that when she saw me there that first Sunday she thought, "There's someone who can be my friend." I like that. :) She introduced herself right away, and then she was my visiting teacher. We had lots of good chats. Tia was homeschooled growing up and was homeschooling her own children. She now has 5 or 6 of them.
One thing I love about Tia is that her views on life were so different. She is non-judgemental, but her ideas about how learning happens and all sorts of things just kind of turned my world upside down there for a moment. I love her for it. I think one thing she taught me is that there's always another way to look at things.
Tia had a cute little duplex when we lived there. They've since sold it and moved to a bigger house on a bigger lot out in Enoch. They seem to love it out there. Her kids are such happy, nice little ones. They use grains I never thought of using when they make pancakes. And they drink goat milk. I'm not sure if this is all because of gluten and cow milk sensitivity or if that's just the way they are, but it's interesting. It's just different.
Tia was always so willing to help me, and I'll love her forever for that. When Jeremy came home from Utah she watched our kiddos so Jeremy and I could go see Les Mis. And the day before he came home she watched my kiddos all day while I used the Rug Doctor all over the house. That was such a tiring day, and it took way longer than I'd planned. But it got done, thanks to Tia. She brought us pizza for dinner the night we were loading the U-Haul to move. I just about bawled when she left that night. She's just a kindred spirit, and I miss her a lot.
5. Amy Jensen. Amy is my best friend here. She lives just down the street from me. She is so thoughtful and generous. She took Jill and me out to lunch and to the movies for my birthday this year. She's always giving us stuff. We've been on a few double dates with her and her husband, and that's always fun. We went bowling for one of them. She's fun to chat with. She has had kind of an interesting life. Her husband is the brother of Neal Jensen in Globe, whose wife was the Stake Primary President when I was a counselor. I think that's pretty fun. Amy was married once before and has one son from that marriage who is grown and has autism. That husband was not good, and she was glad to escape from that situation. Her son sure gives her some heartache.
Amy met Gaylon (her current husband) at a concert. She had a feeling she just needed to be there. And there he was. They have 2 sons together, about 16 and 14 years old. Amy is kind of a drill sergeant. She likes to boss people around, and she loves to help friends. A few times she's come and helped me clean my house just because, and she tells me different things about her life while we do that and while she orders my kids around. (My kids hate that. I think it's funny. Besides, they should help anyway.) The Jensens lived in Alaska before coming here. Her husband fixes medical helicopters, and he transferred here not long after we officially moved in. Amy hated living in Alaska. She did not like the cold. Now she is working on her drafting certification. She's so ready to be done with school. I think she can get her drafting certification after this semester. I wonder what she'll do then. I can imagine her working in a welding shop and ordering her coworkers around. XD Right now she works for a lady kind of doing like hospice care. She has told me how the lady was bedridden, but with Amy's can-do drill sergeant attitude the lady has been able to be a lot more mobile. She's pretty proud of that. I think that's neat.
Anyway, I just love her. She took our old job in the nursery. She's more just kind of a whatever, that's good enough kind of person, but she does a great job there, and the kids love her.
6. Lilly. Her real name is Stefanie Smith. Lilly had a really rough childhood, and she has been married at least once before. Now she's married to Mark, who we call Os. Lilly has two sons from another marriage, both of whom are grown. For reasons unknown to me, the older one has kind of decided he doesn't want her in his life, and the other, who is autistic, is currently in a mental hospital. Tough stuff. He's delusional. Apparently, drugs messed up his brain. He's always convinced that everyone is out to get him and spouting off weird nonsense and breaking things. Poor Lilly. And then a few years ago Lilly's niece came around wanting help. She was a single mother and needed a place to live with her two little girls. She had already lost custody of two or more children before and was living a really dumb life. It ended up that because she was an unfit mother Lilly and Os were able to adopt the girls. Those poor little girls have been through so many horrid things in their lives, but Lilly and Os are their angels.
We met Lilly and Os through World of Warcraft. Our guild was dying. We were in this guild that was created by an old high school friend of Jeremy's and his wife and maybe a brother and some other friends. Anyway, Jeremy and I were the only ones in the guild who were ever on. It was kind of lonely. Then somehow or other Jeremy came into contact with some people who were starting a new guild. We decided to join. That was so exciting. We got to know a few of those people, and eventually, we decided to break off and form our own guild. Our guild is called Le CoirNoir, which is French for The Black Heart, except it's spelled wrong. Heart should be spelled c-o-e-u-r. Anyway, that'll be our secret. ;) Anyway, over the years our guild has seen a few different regulars come and go, but the ones who have really stuck with it are Lilly, our guild boss; Os; Cernun, whose real name is Kyle - he lives in Seattle; Val, who you know about, whose real name is Jason; and Verdes, whose real name is Vinnita Babic.
Just a side not on Verdes - lives in Fayetteville, NC, except right now she's living with her mom in Yuma while her mom gets cancer treatments. Verdes is amazing. She is not in our church, but she's very active in her own faith. She is an amazing artist, and most of what she paints are Gospel-themed pieces. She had such a hard life growing up, and she is a war vet who also happens to have MS. But somehow she found God in all she went through, and it's been a miracle in her life. She is active in Bible study groups, one that is a national call-in one (or maybe it's over the internet), and she's one of the group leaders in that one. She also just loves kids so much. She teaches them art once a week, or at least she does when she's in North Carolina. She kind of put her life on hold to go help her mom. She's been such a strength to her mom. She encourages her and shares Bible verses with her. It's just neat. And though I don't feel as close to Verdes as I do to Lilly, I just love her. She's amazing. She's kind and thoughtful and helpful.
And Cern. He's a cool guy too. He will drop everything in the middle of whatever he's doing just to help any of his guild mates. You just can't help but love the guy. He knows his stuff, but he doesn't rub it in. He just helps.
Anyway, one thing that was important to Lilly as we set up the guild was that it be family friendly, since we have little guys that liked to play sometimes. And so that's what we have. We haven't really be interested in expanding the guild, even though it would be good for things like raids, just because we have found people who share our values, and we're happy for that. I still feel like God put us together.
One thing I love - Lilly guessed that we were LDS, even online, never having met us. She told us she was LDS but inactive. During an especially trying time in her life I told her, "You just need to find your bishop and call him right now." I helped her find him, and I actually called him to give him a heads up. She started going back to church, and Os went with her. Os used to be a preacher in another religion, but he was just ready, and he investigated ours. He was baptized, and a few years later they were sealed in the Oakland Temple. They're both quite active and happy in the church. Lilly is a Family History Consultant and just LOVES that job! She's always so excited about it. They're sending her to Rootstech this year, and she's so excited.
I don't know what it is about Lilly, but I just immediately felt comfortable being "around" her in that virtual world. We just kind of clicked. And the funny thing to me is - she's someone who I would have never known that I needed to get to know in real life. I just never would have approached her. But here we are! Between her and Jeremy and my sisters and my Mama I always have someone to talk to about my troubles and my triumphs, and it's such a blessing!
I still think about how we got together, and I'm still amazed. Even though we took like 6 years off of playing Warcraft, and even though we're still only playing when we can fit it in the budget, they're some of my best friends. They've been a blessing in my life.
