16

Good friends are like stars.  You don't always see them but you know they are always there. -Unknown

I thank you in advance for your patience with my late posts this weekend.  It has been a BUSY weekend, full of lots of fun--but not a lot of time to blog.  I guess since I woke up at 6:45 AM (without an alarm!), that I should at least use this time to be productive!

Cole as a dolphin

"Thanks for coming tonight.  I guess you sort of had to, didn't you, because it is a required part of orientation.  And what else are you going to do?  You're freshman so you have no friends or plans yet!  Well I'm sure you knew you were coming to a speaker tonight who was going to talk about alcohol.   How many of you are wondering where the free samples are?" 

This was the opening lines of a motivational speaker/comedienne that came to speak to us Labor Day weekend of 2000 when we moved to college.  As I previously mentioned in another post, when I moved to Iowa, I literally stepped foot on a campus, city and state in which I knew not a single soul.  This was slightly (or significantly) overwhelming the first day and night I was there.  I had made an assumption that everybody else knew everybody, and that the only way I was going to make friends would be through partying, as college had always been portrayed (especially in Beverly Hills, 90210 and Saved by the Bell: College Years). 

When we got to college, we were placed in orientation groups that were based upon our Interdisciplinary Studies 101 classes.  My orientation group was Group 10, and it was a focus on drama/play analysis and lifelong intrinsic learning.  All of the orientation activities we did, we were expected to report with our IS 101 groups.  At the end of the alcohol speaker, I walked out and was still laughing.  I asked the girl next to me what she thought of the speaker.  Her response?  "I mean, she was funny and everything, but she talked like everybody comes to college to drink and that is not my plan."  At that point, I saw the clouds part, the sunshine down, the angels and archangels singing.  I knew it was meant to be!! 

From that moment forward, Cole and I were friends.  This included road trips to MN where we saw her family and saw my family, slumber parties in her dorm, late-night movie watching and prank phone-calling, volunteering at the local children's home, mentoring a boy together, a John Mayer concert with an annoying tag-along, getting flipped off by some crazy man in Clear Lake, IA, road trips for surprise birthday parties in Des Moines, a wedding shower/wedding road trip to Kansas City, her visiting me on vacation in NC and visiting on a work trip to NC, many phone calls (including 3 way calls with Lou!), and in 2 weeks, getting together again!!  Nicole recently got a job in Des Moines and moved down there from MN--I like to think that it was just so she could see me during marathon weekend. :)

I made many-a-friend in college, but Cole was my first friend, and she and Sarah and I have stayed the 3 amigas.  Cole worries too much, tries to keep everybody happy, and is as loyal as the day is long to those around her.  Colie, I am so grateful for the friendship we've had!  Y Bienvenidos y gracias, por venir oy!  Te quiero!