Happy Birthday!!

According to my mother's memory, my first couple months of high school were miserable and I wanted to transfer. I, of course, don't recall this whatsoever and some many even be dropping their mouths in shock right now as I did when she told me that one time. However, even though my much more youthful memory seems to seldom fail me, I don't believe my mom would make it up and this is just a classic case of me remembering the good and not the bad. And that maybe I should praise her for seeing through my "miserable months" and not allowing me to transfer to any other high school because if she had, I would have never met some of the greatest people in my life to date.

And I would have never been able to share this four-month, life-affirming journey with one of those great people, and one of my best friends, Katie. Or celebrate her 21st birthday here in Australia! We were homeroom buddies and ended up taking more classes than not with each other in high school. We went to SLU together and when I left there after a year, she didn't hold a grudge against me. I get her and she gets me. And when we're missing home over here, all we need to do to see each other and everything seems to fall back into place. A slice of home 9000 miles away.

I mean, there's not many people I would voluntarily go out on a Monday for. Especially with my class schedule on Tuesdays! But, to ring in her 21st birthday with her is something that I had the utmost pleasure in doing. Even if she doesn't really remember my invaluable gift of presence.

We just went to a low-key bar off campus and actually we were the only ones in the place but honestly, it couldn't have been better. Her best of friends here were there and we all just celebrated her, and might have given her a little too many celebratory drinks. No regrets. I couldn't help but remember our friendship through the years as I watched her laugh and just enjoy life all around. Whether it was the high school birthday dinners, locker decorations, lunch parties or even her visiting at Dayton for her birthday last year, I've got the birthday memories with her but it has been so much more than that. We've lead Kairos together, survived a tornado outside in St. Louis, and have a "you do it, I'll do it too" friendship mentality of eating sweets. We've sang our hearts out at a Sugarland concert and traveled halfway across the world. But the best part of it all? We have a picture of every one of our adventures, thanks to our tradition of always taking a picture whenever we're together.

So beyond lucky to have this girl by my side through all this but even more excited to see where our friendship takes us in life. Happy 21st Birthday Kates! The birthday thunder was all yours.

Through the years...

Earliest picture!

Latest picture!