Howard Family, Party of 5: special day!!!

Today is Audie's 28th birthday!! I couldn't pass up the opportunity to post about my very best friend.

I don't even know where to begin! I've known Audie now for TWENTY THREE years. We met in 4th grade, when I was new to Monterey Heights elementary school and the two of us happened to be in the same class. What's more, she lived on the same street as my grandma....and I remember my grandma telling me to look for a little girl named Audie that she knew lived on the street. So I did, and we became friends. We used to walk to and from school together, and of course spent countless hours outside of school together. Back then it was a group of about 4 of us girls who lived within two blocks of eachother and became best friends (technically it was only my Grandma who lived there, not me, but I spent most of my time there). Yet Audie is the only one I talk to regularly and still consider a best friend.

We could sit around and just rattle off all the different memories for hours! And sometimes we do. Sometimes I call her up out of the blue just to say "remember when....". Audie is that friend that could (and has) come over when I'm looking my worst or not feeling well, we can just BE----not doing anything, and have as much fun as we do going out. She tolerates the things that are annoying about me, and I can honestly say I can't ever remember us having a fight. Even an argument really. Even when we would spend weeks at a time together. Can't think of really anyone else I could say that about.

Though I have friends now that I love and cherish, no one will be as good of a friend to me as Audie. We were friends, as I said, through the better part of my childhood. We were friends through every single impactful-time of our lives. My girls being born, my mom and grandpa passing away, our marriages, her son being born, new jobs, new homes, and every happiness, dissappointment, and hard time imaginable.

When I was pregnant with one of my girls and was so sick I couldn't stand up, I vented to Audie about how the house was just a mess and I couldn't stand it....but I couldn't do much about it without throwing up and laying back down. So she came over and cleaned my house, spent an hour on my bathroom alone! I'm not sure that I would do that, cheerfully, for anyone!

On a Valentine's Day just after highschool, when she had a steady boyfriend and I was alone and lonely, she and her boyfriend (husband now) stopped at my house and brought me a bag of m&ms and a Valentine's card.

She has come to every one of my girls' recitals, school programs, etc. Even though for most of them she had a brand new baby, she came and sat until he would start to cry, and then apologized that she had to leave. There's very few activities that would get me out of th house on a tired weeknight, especially lugging a newborn, but she did it and the girls saw her there and felt special.

Arissa was named after Audie (her actual name is Arissa, Audie is just her family nickname). When Jesse and I were choosing names, I had 4 different baby name books and had alphabatized lists with the origins and meanings and all that, but we couldn't agree on ANYTHING. Then, when I was like 8 or 9 months pregnant, I said "what about Arissa?" and instead of opposing it, he said "yeah, I like that". So that's what we stuck with, and I think it's the perfect name and I'm so glad it occured to us to use it. Becuase for all of my girls' names, I tried to pick names that didn't just sound, but ones that were personal, special, and had meanings. So it's only fitting that Arissa be named after the person who was there for me through every event, major and minor, for basically my whole life. Not to mention that Audie has always been someone I looked up to....she is beautiful (she can't NOT look pretty if she tried), she is always genuinely happy, she's never without a smile and NEVER EVER in a bad mood. Seriously. She is funny beyond measure and kind and thoughtful and creative and silly and talented.

At this point, we're both married, me with three kids and her with one (plus a roommate and a foreign exchange student), we talk/email fairly frequently but don't hang out very much, which is to be expected I guess. But I know that even if we end up living on opposite coasts someday, we would still be able to remain the best of friends, and pick up right where we left off. Audie is the closest thing I have to a sister, and she is just as special to me as if she were family.

"Kristen & Audie: the friendship in photos":

(but not in chronological order)

This is us in 4th grade, at my grandma's, dressed up & ready for Halloween. (I'm the 50's girl, she's the clown)