dearest {and} darlingest

~ chrissy ~

has been my best friend since fifth grade,

the year my family made the big and final move to utah.

march 2008

chrissy and i are completely different in many things. we have often marveled that if we had not been in the same ward at church or lived right around the corner from each other, there would be a big possibility that we would not have been friends.

i would like to think that among the many things we have in common is our tender hearts. i remember an old brown car that used to sit in their driveway. neither of us knew why it was never driven, but it became our special place. chris and i spent hours upon hours upon hours in that car, especially in fifth and sixth grade. we opened up our hearts and poured out special secrets, talked about hard things, and shared the beginnings of our small testimonies. we talked and talked and talked about anything and everything.

we helped each other with chores and other tasks. we experimented with fashion and makeup. sleepovers happened more than often and i became a constant presence in chrissy's home. so much so, that her mother bestowed upon me the title of her "seventh daughter" (she already had six daughters and four sons). i have been an honorary member of chrissy's family for almost as long as we have been friends. i would like to think that all the time i spent with chrissy and her family, all the talking and planning and dreaming we did, helped make me who i am today.

july 2008

as i look back, chris and i have been through so very, very much. a lot of that was difficult 'stuff' and it was not usually easy to deal with. however, chrissy was always a caring supporter of me and i hope i encouraged her as well. throughout all the good and the bad, we've stuck together and made it through the storm. these experiences have created a bond of friendship that is as thick as blood and timeless as time itself.

you may think i am cliche and cheesy, but it really is the truth.

well, chrissy has always had a "servant's heart" as some call it. she loves the Lord, she loves others, and she loves to share good things with everyone. this led to her getting an lds mission call to ft. lauderdale, florida - spanish speaking.

june/july 2008

words cannot describe how hard it was to see her leave and miss her so badly it physically hurt. eighteen months went by as slow as eighteen years might feel like. however, as the time for her to come home got closer, i started to get scared. questions plagued my mind and made me even more nervous.

• what if she had changed so much on her mission she didn't want me as a friend anymore?
• what if i've changed so much she won't want me as a friend?
• will she even remember me and the friendship we shared before her mission?
• what is it going to be like when she gets home?

sister chrissy got home from her mission on march 11, 2011 (the same day as my sweet sister sundy's birthday) and it was an emotional day for all of us. nans and i drove up to the airport and had so much fun welcoming back our dearest and darlingest friend home. so far, so good.

we still love each other just as much, if not more, than we did before she left.

{pictures of march 11, 2010 to come}