Day 3 - A Picture of Me and My Best Friends

There are two people in my life that I am lucky enough to consider my best friends. They are complete opposites and the only thing they have in common is me.

I am starting this one off with my oldest friend, Mari. We took this picture over the summer while she was down in Florida visiting. It's such a silly photo but I love it because it reminds me of our shared youth. Back when we first met, she was just Maria (and my family continues to call her that to this day - they can't use the nickname at all for some reason!), and we shared a few classes at Andrew Jackson Middle School. We were friendly, but not close at first. She was a brown belt in karate and I still tell people to this day the only reason I became friends with her was so she wouldn't beat me up! It wasn't until closer to the end of our freshman year of high school that we became really close, thanks to a few hijinks which I will not rehash...As different as we were, we bonded and really became best friends. I spent every Friday night at her house growing up. When we got out of high school, our paths started to diverge but we remained close. Telling her I was pregnant with my son is one of my favorite memories. She being more adventurous than I am moved to Colorado shortly after my son was born and we've naturally drifted. Yet she's always part of the big moments in my life. She's made big moves and traveled all over the world, leading a far more exciting life than my small town soccer mom existense but we still love each other like sisters and I know we will always be there for each other.

Tiffany and I met through work. I scared her to death the first time we really met because she was new and training with this idiot that used to work at our law firm. He had almost hit my car in the parking lot the day before, and being the hot headed Irish redhead that I am, I decided to tell him off failing to notice that she was right there. And that's probably her favorite story to tell about our friendship! Tiffany and I are both the coolest single moms I know...our sons are less than 3 months apart in age and best friends as well. We got along initially because we had a lot of common interests but it wasn't until I had some really difficult relationship issues that she showed me how amazing of a person she really was. When my ex and I were falling apart, she was a rock. She listened to me cry and over analyze and just let me talk even when I was repeating myself or not making sense. She was a big part of the Finding Krista journey in helping me get out of the shell I had created for myself by planning Mom's nights out and helping me find new music so she could drag me out to concerts with her. I'm pretty well introverted and Tffany is not at all...but that's why it works. I talk to her virtually every day since we work together, and even though we have our disagreements, I know I can always count on her. She gets how I am and has seen me through one of the worst periods of my life. And I did well by not picking one of the many, many photos we have of us sticking our tongues out at the camera after someone decides it's time for the jager!


These two women represent my past and my present self and if I'm really, really, lucky, we'll be friends for the rest of our lives...