14

"So I claim freedom."  -Melissa Ferrick

FINALLY caught up on days--thank goodness!!   I am going to have to ask you in advance to be patient with me as I actually have found myself BUSIER during the tapering part of my training, versus when I was running 20 miles a week.  Additionally, I will be packing and travelling, which means my posts may not always be on time, but I will do my best.

Today will be short & quick and picture filled...

Today's official 14 shout-out goes to all of the friends I made when I lived in Waverly--those who were near & far.  Every single one of you contributed to helping me develop as a person & despite moving 1400 miles away, I think of you often.

Love to all--and pictures of some:

15

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.  -Unknown

If you would've asked me 11 years ago where I would be today and who I would be surrounding myself with, I would have never guessed that my life today would be as it is. 

In the Spring of 2009, I decided I'd had enough of the life I was living in Iowa and knew it was time to make changes.  After many emails and phone calls with a couple of friends, I finally got the courage to relocate, and June 26, 2009, I packed up my little Mitsubishi Lancer and headed South.  Again, I was headed to a brand new state, as I'd done 9 years before--but this time, I knew 4 people:  Megan, Melissa, and their 2 kids. 
I like to take full credit for Megan and Melissa's relationship--as I did introduce them to one another my freshman year of college.  For this, I do think they owe me everything.  Given the fact that it was Megan's encouragement that brought me to NC (which has obviously been a great change for me), I guess we can call it ALMOST even.  Megan and Melissa are foster parents and had children before, but in February of 2008, they had Tommy and Stephanie placed with them.  The adoption was finalized in 2009, making the kids officially "Guthrie-Johnsons."  So when I moved down here in 2009, I wasn't just moving down to stay with my old college friends, but with their new family.  I had met the kids when they'd come back to the Midwest a couple times, so moving in with them was much different.  Let us also factor in that Tommy Lee has autism, can't speak, and when angry gets violent--so it wasn't like moving in was just an adjustment to living with kids--but kids with some different needs. 

Sissy, Meg, T-Money, Melissa

It wasn't long before I feel in love with the kids and quickly learned how to manage and communicate with Tommy.  After 2 years, 3 months and 1 week, I can tell you that I love these kids more than I could ever imagine loving a kid!!  Yes, Stephanie can be sassy and Tommy can be frustrating--and noisy at 6 AM when I want to sleep--but receiving the title "Fraunt La" (friend/aunt) was the most honorable title I could imagine receiving.  And I have always appreciated Megan and Melissa--but seeing their endless committment to these kids makes me proud to be their friends.

Melissa, Walmart, La, Stephanie, Meg
La's First Marathon!!

May of 2010, I entered my first 5k.  I was as nervous as could be.  I was running a 5k several times a week already when out on my runs, but this was the first official race.  I was terrified that I would be last, or wouldn't finish--and just scared because it was the first race I'd ever done.  Megan & Melissa decided to support me in this by signing the family up and doing the race as well--and without any training, which ensured that I would NOT be last.  I crossed the finish line and turned around to cheer for them as they rolled in about 10 minutes behind me.  They woke their rear ends up super early on a Saturday, purchased a jogging stroller so they could push Tommy, and went out to do a 5k  just to support me.  April of 2011, they got a hotel and came to cheer me on at my first half-marathon, standing out in the pouring rain and cheering as we approached the 4 mile mark--exactly the encouragement I needed at that time. 

Riah, Sissy, La
Bio fam & new fam unite

The memories we had started with eating ice cream under the stairway at a hotel in Waverly and sitting in the back of the chapel at Eucharist, and has moved now into Tuesday night family night as we watch Parenthood & Glee.  Our fun used to be riding in the car and listening to loud music during a last-minute road trip.  Now our fun is tickling and wrestling with the kids in the living room. 
I do consider all of my close friends to be family, but this family of mine has been and always will be my close family in NC.  Megan will always be my bruh.  Melissa will always be my homie.  Stephanie will always be my niece.  And Tommy will always be the best man in my life--and the only one allowed in my bed! 
If there was one wish I had regarding the marathon (outside of the obvious--that I sprouted wings and could fly the entire thing), it would be that I could pack up a bus of my NC peeps and bring them with--and this family would be at the front of the bus!! 

Have you ever seen anything cuter?
Signing "eat"

Sissy & Bubba Love

Like Mother, Like Daughter
Sissy being "gangsta"

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!

17

I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason.  We are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return.  I don't know if I believe its true, but I know I am who I am today because I knew you. -Wicked

I realize I've already done a shout out to my college girls, but there are some individuals from college who specifically will be mentioned.  Today is one of the greatest human beings I have ever met.

Sarah and I lived down the hallway from one another when we moved into college in the fall of 2000.  We didn't get to know each other right away--she hung out with a girl I couldn't stand who stole everybody's food all the time.  I quickly found out that Sarah was just too nice to tell that girl to get lost, and somehow, Sarah and I started kicking it.  She and I have laughed endless laughs and shed tears together.  She woke my rear end up every single day my junior year to make sure I got to Biology 101 when I slept through my alarm.  We would rollerblade on the Waverly Rail Trail and laugh at her inability to tell the difference between a cow and a horse.  She came out to visit me in March of 2010 and we got to road trip around the Outer Banks, NC--and this all after she was stuck in airports for 36 hours due to a storm that came through.  Sarah has always been a giver, taking care of those around her and in the past several years going on Mission Navajo, a trip organized through her church in which she goes to help out on a Native American reservation.  Sarah is one of the most dependendable people I've ever met and I know how lucky I am to have her in my life.

I'll be staying at Camp Sarah Louise during my marathon weekend.  It will be the first time we've seen each other since March 2010 (minus the 10 minute stop at the Albert Lea truck stop at Christmas last year) and I am beyond excited to hug that girl!!

Lou, every one of us who has become your friend knows how incredibly lucky we are to have you in our lives.  :) 

18

Someday I'll find a way to show you just how lucky I am to know you. -Faith Hill

Labor Day weekend of 2000, I stepped foot into a state, into a city, and onto a campus where I did not know a single other soul. After 4 years at good ol' Wartburg College (U rah rah rah), I walked away with the most amazing friends that had become more like sisters and less like friends. Though I live over a thousand miles away from each and every one of them, and some I haven't spoken to since Rebecca's wedding, I still am thankful every single day for them. They are now spread out throughout the Midwest (IA, NE, KS) and the world (Spain!), but I know that if I ever needed a thing from any single one of them, they would be here in the blink of an eye. I will get to see a few of them when I'm back for the race--I wish I could see them all. For my Vollmer Ground/Res 107/Res 204 girls, and to those who let me pretend I was Knights Villager, thanks for the years of companionship, filled with:

Singing with brushes & curling irons

Eucharist on Wednesday nights

Stealing bagels from the caf

Road trips to anywhere under the sun

Scary movie nights

Waking me up in time for class

Singing Sisqo & Kelis

Midnight breakfasts (those were so fun!)

Guitar jam sessions

You've got Mail

Bring it On

Big Bootie

Quote wall

And so much more.

Love you always, girls!!

19

A teacher has two jobs; fill young minds with knowledge, yes, but more important, give those minds a compass so that that knowledge doesn't go to waste.  -Mr. Holland's Opus

Today's blog is going to be short and sweet.  I could probably write an entire 5-paragraph essay about her, as she is the one who taught me to write them so well, but I'm afraid she would then send it back to me with corrections that need to be made. 

Kinka, ADBK, LLR, La

What I can say is that the phrase "When one door closes, another one opens" is evident in her involvement in my life.  Surprisingly enough, I was an arrogant fool in my younger years.  We wrote our first paper of the year in Advanced English 10 and turned it in. I got it back with a D.  Are you kidding me--a D?!?!  I had NEVER EVER gotten a D before, and I sure wasn't going to start now.  Surely my teacher had it wrong. I approached her and asked her if there had been a misunderstanding.  She explained to me that my expectations were much higher than before and that I was no longer going to be able to write a paper in 30 minutes the night before and expect a high grade.  I might have thrown a small tantrum as she clearly didn't know who I was and wasn't going to make exceptions for me.  She sent me home with a wounded ego and an offer to rewrite the paper for a higher grade.  When I got my returned paper back again with a B on it, she wrote "Don't give me anything less than this again."  Man, she was one tough cookie!!  More surprisingly, I was hook, line and sinker from then on out. 

This was only the beginning of the challenges she gave me.  My senior year, I took another class with her--one that typically students took just for an easy A, despite the amazing literature that was covered in the class.  Upon signing up for the class, she informed me that I would not be taking the same class as the other 20-some students, but would have an alternative syllabus with different/more challenging assignments.  She followed through on this and my expectations were twice that of any of the others, and I rose to the challenge.  On the less-than-educational side of things, she challenged me, personally, to really examine my life and figure out who I really was. 

ADBK, La, LLR

To this day, I still keep up with her, and plan my visits back to the Midwest so that I'm sure she'll be available to see me.  I can't believe that I haven't been her student for 11 years, and I still keep in touch with her--and her with me.  She was the ONLY person in life who ever challenged me to truly rise to my potential--until the past year or so when I began to challenge myself to do the same.  She went from being a warden, to a teacher, to a mentor, to a friend.  She will forever be one of the most influential people I've met in my life journey and will forever be indebted to her.  The guidance, safety, challenges, and caring that she offered were the window that opened when doors were closing, and I climbed into that window and held on for dear life. 

I look forward to seeing her face, the first familiar one I will see, when I get off that plane on October 12. 

20

Courage! What makes a king out of a slave? Courage! What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage! What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist, or the dusky dusk? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage! What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage! What makes the dawn come up like thunder? Courage! What makes the Hottentot so hot? What puts the "ape" in apricot? Courage!  -Wizard of Oz

Naked baby Riah

As we are at the 20th day of the countdown, it seems only appropriate that it should be for my 20 year old sister, Mariah.  As I have never EVER called her by her first name, I will no longer refer to her as that for the remainder of the blog.  She does have over a dozen nicknames--but I will use the one I use most, Riah.

Riah & La in France--eating cheese!

She and I have had an indescribable connection since before she was even born.  I ALWAYS wanted a little sister.  I would go to the window at my house on University Avenue and peer out the window and recite "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might have this wish I wish tonight."  I'd then squeeze my eyes closed very tightly and repeat "I want a baby sister" over and over again.  I was CERTAIN that this was the reason my Mom got pregnant in 1990--wasn't I surprised when the birds and the bees explanation came!!  Riah was due in late May of 1991, but like the 2 babies before, my Mom knew she would be late.  My brother and I were getting tucked into bed on June 3 and all of a sudden I knew it--the baby was coming.  I wouldn't get into my bed until I packed an overnight bag.  Despite my parents both encouraging me to go to bed, I refused until that bag was packed, even waking up my brother to tell him to do the same.  Finally, I was packed and I let my parents tuck me into bed.  Within the next hour or two, my Mom came in to wake me up.  "Why?" you ask?  Because the baby was coming!!  We got dropped at the sitter's house while they went up to the hospital.  The next morning, my Dad showed up at the school to get us to go up to meet the new baby!! 

The fam!

From that night forward, she and I have always seemed to have had a telepathic connection--the thing you read about that twins have, except we are not twins (although my Grampa can't tell us apart, so we might as well be twins!) and I'm 9 years older.  She and I have had endless inside jokes, memories, fun times, and times that we just had to get through together.  She's one of the few people I can actually argue/fight with.  She's also one of the only people I don't hold a grudge against after the fight is over (Riah--sorry for holding you down and spitting on you when you were younger--I hope ou can forgive me).  She's the worst person to share a bed with (bed hog, covers hog, and "breathes deeply") but I'd gladly share one with her anyday if it means I could see her.  She is great at car trips--even when I am forcing her to hold a bag of sliced watermelon when the bag has a hole in it--except when I let her run the radio and we can't agree on which playlist/CD to listen to.  She has more "Dorothy" costumes than a Halloween store (and in various sizes--and a basket with a Pound Puppy) and can recite EVERY SINGLE LINE of Wizard of Oz from beginning to end.  She's one of the most musically gifted fools I've ever met, speaks French fluently, appreciates the old cartoon Recess, and keeps every secret I ever tell her.  She's the only visitor I've  had in NC that has visited more than once (I think it is 3 or 4 times?) and my Mom and I are the only visitors she had when she lived in France all of last year. 


The French Fam--Riah, Fred, Titouan, Steph & Manon

And while the kid is only 20 years old (she loves being reminded of the fact that she's still a kid....or not....), she is one of the bravest and strongest individuals I have ever met.  My parents (bless their hearts---oh, the joys of southern terms) were less than thrilled about the idea of Riah going overseas for a year--and who wouldn't be?!  It is far away from home, she knew nobody there, and it was costly.  While this is an experience that most of us would love to have but never take because we are chickens, Riah took it head on!!  She had the best year of her life and found "family" in a "new home."  I suppose if I have to share my sister with somebody, they are the ones!  So this kid is no  Cowardly Lion, that's for sure!
So there you have it, folks:  Sister of the Year award goes to Ri.  Or, as we like to say it: Riah geth the thithter of the year award, folkth--yes, we think lisping is fun, but even more fun to type out!



Cousins!  Lexie, La, Riah, Spencer

I also should add that Riah is going to do a 5k on the marathon day and is coming down from WI to see me.  Even though she wouldn't come to Elkhorn to pick me up (JERK!), she's still the best sister ever.  Best one I've ever had, anyway!!  And yes, she is available for rent, but not until she gets her butt back down here to visit again soon.  20 days till our race, Thithter!  XOXO