I am blessed to still have a few close friends that go back years. The older I get, the more I realize how rare this is. Heather is one of those friends.
My family moved to Illinois at the start of my third grade year. I assume it was then that I would have known Heather’s name. However, it was not until dance team years later that I think I finally developed a relationship with her. A season that lasts from August to March will do that to you.
The ironic part of our friendship, though, is that I think it was college that made us close, even though we attended schools nowhere close to each other. I believe it was our new found freedom of not being in class eight hours straight and having hours to waste on AOL Instant Messenger. We became almost instant best friends over the internet at the age of 18 after having “known” each other for 10 years, and I would not have it any other way. The irony and uniqueness make me love our friendship that much more.
These days our relationship has evolved from one-liners on AOL to emails over Hotmail. Instead of talking non sense about our college professors or how miserable we were on our long walks to class in the snow, we now talk about books and quote ”The Office.” How the times have changed.
My favorite part of Heather is her sense of humor. She seems quiet and well behaved, so her sarcasm and jokes will catch you by surprise. My other favorite part is that she looks like little Hallie Kate Eisenberg from the Pepsi commercials. If you ask real nice, she may sing the song for you, and it will be instantly obvious why I call her my PepSi (her addiction to Pepsi helped seal the deal). And yes, she calls me CoRnDoGg, but my nickname is a not-so-exciting story for another time.
It was in the Winter of 2005 that Heather and I dreamed of moving to Nashville together, but the next year she ended up in Sioux Falls and I in Nashville. Before I moved, though, I went on a music missions trip with CTI Music Ministries based out of Minnesota. Being just a few hours from South Dakota, that allowed me to see her before heading home.
Minnesota has afforded me a couple opportunities since to see her as well, and I am thankful, considering we live so far apart and do not often make it back to Illionis at the same time. Jeff and I were just up there in April for our friends’ wedding, and I got to get my PepSi fix.
While there I did a shoot for her. I thought we were just going to do it for fun, and I could get a little practice, but she later shared with me that she wanted to buy prints for her parents as an anniversary present. How thoughtful! I was thrilled to be a part of this, to capture my best friend and to provide a timeless gift to her parents that have treated me as one of their own. It has been hard to sit on this secret for months, but they finally got their gift last week! So it is with great excitement I introduce to you my dear, dear friend Heather. Love you girl!
You are way too kind
aw! these made me smile! nice job ashley!
Thanks Meredith! It was so much fun.
[...] pleasure to participate in yet another surprise gift for a parent, just like I did with my friend Heather for her parents’ [...]