Juju, my Juju…where art thou?

Dear Julie,

I am going to do my best to write this to you and truly express how much you mean to me.  Out of everyone in my life, you were there when we both hit complete rock bottom together in 2013/2014.  And when you hit rock bottom together, it either breaks you or makes you inseparable.  In our case, we’ve been inseparable since then.

We met by chance, we met by fate, and little did we know down the road, God knew we needed each other more than we could imagine.  Without you, I would not have climbed out of my hole as quickly as I did.

In high school, we were young, we were naïve, and we had stars in our eyes.  We don’t even remember exactly where we met, but it was somewhere in the halls of Davis High School where I found my best friend.

It’s not easy to find someone that has been with you through your best times and your worst times for more than 16 years.

My 16 favorite things about you for each year I’ve known you.

1. Your laugh is contagious
2. You are real.  No sugar coating.
3. You are selfless. It takes a selfless person to be a teacher and I know you loved teaching and it was hard to leave the classroom.
4. You care so much about everyone else. You’ve learned not to care for everyone, but for the ones in your inner circle you will do anything for them.
5. You are a great mother.  I see how the kids love you.
6. You are a wonderful wife.
7. You are strong. I know how you dealt with your first big break-up, your dad, and all the issues as a teacher. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re weak.
8. You can always turn my frown upside down.  Even on our worst days, we are never that bad.
9. You don’t like pets and when I send you a picture of dogs licking their kid’s mouth, we both say gross.
10. You love N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, and Savage Garden just like me.
11. You are not a typical girlie, girl. You like to hunt, 4-wheel, and be in the woods!
12. You love Harry Potter, I don’t know who loves HP more.
13. You are beautiful…Inside and out.
14. You would give the shirt off your back to a friend in need.
15. At one point you questioned God, but now, you are stronger in your faith than ever and you are helping me figure out my road too.
16. And no matter what we talk about, there is no judgement…EVER

Here is a walk of our favorite moments…

In our teens…

• When we hid in the parking lot while watching Scott find the phone book where I asked him to Halloween
• Do you remember how bugged you were about the “elbows?”
• I still remember the day you called me when Ryan died.  I didn’t even know how to comfort you, but I knew I had to. Nights, days, long walks while we tried to understand and ask God why.
• When the first year passed, on his anniversary you called me.
• We thought we were so sexy in our matching velvet suits that we proudly wore to school.

In our 20’s…

• You took a year and went to Hawaii while I finished school, but you became a Ukulele queen, while I became more of a bookworm
• You became a missionary and served for the greater good in Texas, while I did my MBA
• You broke up with who you believed was the best you could have at the time and so did I.
• When you took off for a summer to Europe to find yourself and deal with your heartache, I went through mine. You called me from London to make sure I was ok.
• We made a promise to become a hotter version of ourselves.  We threw our anger into the gym.
• I sat in the car and asked you at age 23 maybe 24, if you could get pregnant from kissing.
• My first kiss was with one of the hottest men ever and when I sent the picture of him, Juju, you screamed and said yes, this is one of the stories you will tell your kids.
• When you couldn’t sleep because your heart was so broken, you called my name at night even though we were thousands of miles apart.
• When your dad had his health issues, I was one of the only ones you told.
• You cried when I got in the car accident and your parents wanted to fly out to take care of me.
• I waited until the day you saw jerk-face so he could regret losing you, well that happened during my accident and I didn’t know you had told me 4 times, but because of that I realized I was having memory loss issues.

In our 30’s…

• I listened to every heartbreak, every bad date, every time you gave up hope. And I was there when you realized Troy was the one.
• You’ve heard every date, even the ones where I asked why this guy is so nice, but I just cannot commit.  And you’ve sat there as I’ve cried, helped rebuild my confidence, and supported me through two horrible relationships.
• You’ve supported every decision I’ve made.
• You’ve never judged me for anything I’ve said to you including the fact that I’m done being a nice person.
• You have the best and cutest baby and I get to be in her life through Instagram.
• And our inside jokes are the best…gagging, damn horse, cactus, Kazakhstan, size of a pinky, air…just air.

We are each other’s biggest cheerleaders and that will never change.

Julie, I cannot wait to see what life brings both of us as we walk through our 30’s together.  As we grow together, get old together, and hopefully one day have our kids play together.

I wish we had more photos during high school, but we didn’t have fancy cameras and at that time we didn’t realize the importance of capturing our moments.

I love you more than words can say. I need you more than you know. You are my best friend forever and ever. And the only words of Lionel Richie can give you a glimpse…

Stuck on you
I’ve got this feeling down
Deep in my soul
That I just can’t lose
Guess, I’m on my way
Needed a friend
And the way I feel now I guess
I’ll be with you till the end
Guess I’m on my way
Mighty glad you stayed