God be with you 'til we meet again

As a tiny freshman I was yanked into the lockers in the commons while a boy I had a crush on in my 7th grade Algebra class rambled out, "Hey, you know Ryan? Yeah, well you should dance with him."

Those were the first words that Alan Barney ever said to me. At least the first that I can remember.


Adventures that followed were ones I never thought I'd have.

This kid has known me since I had braces, obviously.

I don't think people understand the magnitude of what we've been through together.

I've known him since my freshman year of high school. 

And he knows everything about me.

I mean come on! We both look so tiny in these photos but he's seen me at all stages of life. 

He's the kind of kid I drove to Idaho with to help his sister move.

Bunny capturing adventures.

He was my spider-man and I was his MaryJane.

He's the kid I didn't even freak out at when his throw up got on my face after riding the Samari at our ballroom team's day at Lagoon.

Not to mention I'm the one who got him to smile with his teeth :)

He's the kid who liked me even when I was this hideous. 

This kid is what I think of when I think of high school. And somehow we managed to stay friends after graduating too.

Once again he gave my one of my best summers. 

We had our rough patches, you better believe we did. But this boy has been the biggest part of my life. We've been everything from boyfriend and girlfriend, friends, acquaintances, partners, enemies, stalkers, and I'm so happy to say I'm sending him off on his 2 year mission as my very best friend.

"Every song ends, but does that give any reason to not enjoy the music?"

So dear best friend,

         Thank you for being there when you could be, and for always saying sorry eventually. Thank you for still always being there even through the hard stuff. Thanks for Fifi, sparklers, enchanted forest, Nana's house, days at United Ways, holidays, movies, lagoon, flowers, rain, snowflakes, carrying me across university ave for fugitive, bonfires, crying, fighting, loving, laughing, and just being my champ. You will be the best missionary possible. Kenya is so lucky to have you. 

You are my best friend.

It's astounding how much I love this boy. 

They ain't got nothin on us.

Praise to the man

"Brothers and sisters, there are going to be times in our lives when some- one else gets an unexpected blessing or receives some special recognition. May I plead with us not to be hurt— and certainly not to feel envious— when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed. The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those."

-Jeffrey R Holland

I could go on all day

“In bed that night I invented a special drain that would be underneath every pillow in New York, and would connect to the reservoir. Whenever people cried themselves to sleep, the tears would all go to the same place, and in the morning the weatherman could report if the water level of the Reservoir of Tears had gone up or down, and you could know if New York is in heavy boots.” 

"I did not need to know if he could love me.
I needed to know if he could need me.” 

"I tried the key in all the doors, even though he said he didn't recognize it. It's not that I didn't trust him, becuase I did. It's that at the end of my search I wanted to be able to say: I don't know how I could have tried harder.” 

"I knew that our time together was almost over, I asked her if she liked sports, she asked me if I liked chess, I asked her if she liked fallen trees, she went home with her father, the center of me followed her, but I was left with the shell of me, I needed to see her again, I couldn't explain my need to myself, and that's why it was such a beautiful need, there's nothing wrong with not understanding yourself.” 

“Instead of singing in the shower, I would write out the lyrics of my favourite songs, the ink would turn the water blue or red or green, and the music would run down my legs.” 

"I said, I want to tell you something.
She said, you can tell me tomorrow.
I had never told her how much I loved her.
She was my sister.
We slept in the same bed.
There was never a right time to say it.
It was always unnecessary.
The books in my father's shed were sighing.
The sheets were rising and falling around me with Anna's breathing.
I thought about waking her.
But it was unnecessary.
There would be other nights.
And how can you say I love you to someone you love?
I rolled onto my side and fell asleep next to her.
Here is the point of everything I have been trying to tell you ... It's always necessary"

-E.L.& E.C.

Every word that he says is a dagger in me

If there is no God, then God is incalculably the greatest single creation of the human imagination. No other creation of the imagination has been so fertile of ideas, so great an inspiration to philosophy, to literature, to painting sculpture, architecture, and drama. Set beside the idea of God, the most original inventions of mathematicians and the most unforgettable characters in drama are minor products of the imagination: Hamlet and the square root of minus one pale into insignificance by comparison. 


-ANTHONY KENNY