I can't believe it's been five years since Troy got a little note on Facebook from an old "friend" (aka girlfriend). Now let's be honest, not all Facebook messages from old boy/girlfriends are a good thing. Sometimes they can be slightly/moderately/extremely uncomfortable, awkward or occasionally wildly inappropriate. I have never experienced that last one, just so you know, and I would like to hereby state for the record that all Facebook connections with men of my past have all been pleasant and friendly. (Covering my bases here.)
ANYHOW.
About five years ago Troy got a FB message from one "Krista." She was a lovely gal he had dated in college at a moderate level of seriousness. She ended up marrying a very nice man from Wisconsin and attending schools in various states, including Pennsylvania where they got to know The Other Troy (my former next door neighbor) and his family. They settled in her home state of Texas for a few years until her husband was hired at our local children's hospital, Primary Children's Medical Center, and they made a move here. Krista was getting in touch with Troy first of all to say hello and reconnect a little and also to find out the best place to go in order to watch our local Pioneer Day Parade. Sadly, we had no answer for her due to the fact that we never never never watch the parade even though it travels within a couple of miles of our house. She shortly thereafter invited our family over for dinner. This was also a potentially awkward situation - ever had dinner with the family of one of your past girl/boyfriends? Luckily for us....that's not an uncommon occurrence around here because I seem to have become dear friends with a few great guys I dated long long ago. (Is this a weird confessional-post? I don't mean it to be.) The dinner was fun (homemade pizza baked on their Big Green Egg - will never forget it!) and our kids played well. She and I each had a baby - we even had a bonding session while we nursed our babies. My Bundle was about 2 months old and her baby was about 8 months. And guess what. It turns out that once you sit and nurse babies together you pretty much just become friends.
After that lovely dinner Krista and I started hanging out - taking our kids on outings, watching each other's kids for date nights, trading baby daughters on a weekly basis to give each other free time, catching lunch together (she took me to Chick-Fil-A for my first time ever - this is true friendship), texting one other with our daily woes and triumphs, and eventually sharing our deepest struggles and fears and everything we were striving for. We often thanked Troy profusely for asking her out in order to bring us together.
And then in the spring I dropped by her back door to pick somebody up or drop somebody off and she just walked out the door, quietly held her arms out and hugged me. This scared me. Who has cancer? How horrible is your day? Who died? It was nothing like that. She just tearfully told me that her husband had accepted a position in the exact same happy Texas town that they left in order to move here.
We decided that there was no other reason they ever came to SLC other than to become best friends. (Okay okay there are other reasons I'm sure but that's how it feels.) Krista, I am missing you terribly, and your sweet wonderful kids and husband. There is a thing called a Sister Friend and you meet one only a handful of times in a lifetime. Thanks for being one of mine.
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| last pictures together - could not get all the kids to look at the camera at the same time to save my life. Not pictured is their oldest and extremely tall son. |
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| Fall 2010 - During the first year we traded babies. Naps were a big part of the deal. |
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| This was the first of many Christmases we celebrated together - the past couple of years our Christmas Eve tradition has been to find an activity together. |
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| One of many outings - this one to Thanksgiving Point |
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| Krista and family are avid BYU fans (ack! How are we friends?) and they loved playing tricks on us like sending Bundle home in clothing such as this |
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| These two girls spent their first five years learning how to get along - lots of ups and downs with all the playdates but now they are super darling friends who love each other a lot |
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