I am learning to live close to the lives of my friends without ever seeing them. No miles of any measurement can separate your soul from mine. ~ John Muir
These are my friends Carrie and Suzanne.
I love them.
A lot.
This photo was taken last Fall when Carrie I took our girls to visit Suzanne in Chicago – a senior year edition of Girls’ Weekend. We spent the weekend shopping and laughing and talking and laughing. We have so much fun together. And invariably, whenever we’re out, the following two questions get asked-
#1 – “Where are you ladies from?”
Carrie will sit up tall and then point to each of us and say in the following order, “Chicago, Houston, Tulsa.”
Which of course always begs the next question…
#2 – “How do you know each other?”
Which takes a bit longer to answer.
I mentioned in a previous post how I met Carrie. A long story very short, she cut Tripp’s hair once at the mall. She and I became friends. Her husband, Bryan, and Tripp became friends. We all lived happily ever after.
Fast forward two years – a total of three children and three moves between us. Bryan called Tripp to tell him that he had two extra tickets to the OU/TX game. I think Bryan could hear Tripp’s enthusiastic, “Oh Yeah!” all the way in Flowermound…that husband of mine is Sooner born and Sooner bred. So anyway, after Carrie and I talked, I was totally excited for a completely different reason…it was our first weekend to go anywhere without our nine month old Kelsey-girl and let me tell ya – momma was ready to par-tay!
So after I dropped Kelsey off at Mom’s for the weekend, Tripp and I headed south on I-35 along with the 5,000 other vehicles heading to Dallas for the Red River Rivalry. We got to Bryan and Carrie’s house around 5:00 that Friday night before the game, and after a few hugs and I am so happy to see you’s, Carrie informed us that we were all invited to a OU party that night with some new friends they had met the night before at Billy Bob’s.
That’s when I first heard about Suzanne. Carrie started telling me about Suzanne and how great she was and how funny she was. And when I got to meet her for myself, it was like we’d known each other our entire lives. The three of us hit it off instantly and nearly 20 years later, it feels like we’ve been friends forever.
For the next five or six years, the three of us and our spouses would meet for OU/TX weekend. We’d all stay at Bryan and Carrie’s house, and on Friday nights we girls would get ready in her tiny bathroom. Then all of us would pile into Carrie’s minivan and poor Bryan would try to navigate downtown Dallas traffic while Carrie tried to find a good song on the radio that we could sing to at the top of our lungs. We’d come home with aching feet from dancing our asses off still laughing about how much fun we’d had. At bedtime, each couple had the choice of sleeping on Carrie’s country blue sleeper couch or in Cayli’s rose stenciled, pink bedroom. And then Saturday morning, we’d shake off our hangovers and head to the game to cheer on our beloved Sooners. Sunday mornings we said our sad goodbyes knowing that it would most likely be another year before we could all get together again.
Looking back, some of the happiest times of my life have been spent with Carrie and Suzanne.
You might think it’s strange that we could be such close friends considering that we live so far from one another. But the funny thing is, once we get together we just pick up right where we left off. And there is something so special about this friendship 20 years in the making.
It’s incredible, actually.
Any other time, a post like this might make me super nostalgic and weepy. But not today – because I get to see these amazing friends of mine in just five short days!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to start packing!
Peace, Kelly
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