To the best, of my best

I would like to take a moment, well, a few moments to wish my best best best friend Courtney a very Happy 26th Birthday! (sounds soooo much older than 25 right?! Weird.)

In honor of you, I'd like to take a short trip through time....

for instance, back to when we bought solid color t-shirts from Wal-Mart and then stitched on a cute design to go with our skirts.  Do you remember that? Cause I totally do.  We both had navy, green, pink and white skirts from American Eagle.  Or maybe that was Maggie and I...but that's where it all started.  This was from when you came to visit me in Carbondale wearing said shirt.....

How bout this gem?  This is when I lived in Murphysboro.... Christmas of 2005 when we decided to make jewelry trees.  They are hideously fantastic.  I still hang mine every winter and think about how you destroyed your fingers with hot glue and I told you your tree was ugly and you told me to shove it.  Oh the love we share :)

Remember this?  I came to visit you in Charleston.  We moved you and decorated your adorable apartment.  We stayed up all night being super organized freaks...we saw Mattkins for a bit too.  This is at his apartment he shared with Phil.  

And this was at my graduation, when you were so mad at Matt and I told you you were being stupid.  Again, out of nothing but pure love.  

But, you two worked it out and before long I was the maid-of-honor at your wedding.

(yeah....my dress was too small and there was NOTHING I could do about it.  seriously. nothing.)

And before we knew it we had to meet again for Maggie to get hitched.

Then we got together for a visit one day in St. Louis and settled on a very excellent idea.  A birthday cruise to celebrate us turning 24.  Can you even believe that was just 2 years ago.  Seems like so long ago!

Thank goodness you were able to make a memorable entrance.

And we were too sun-burnt to go to dinner.

(I still laugh at the guy that set up our room that thought you were a man, and that we told him it was ok that our beds were pushed together)

Luckily we didn't have to wait too long for our next big adventure together, my wedding day.

I wish I had some of our super old pictures scanned onto my computer but instead they are all cut up and form mega-collages that sit in one of my mom's closets.  It's hard to believe how many of my memories include you.  Almost all the good ones, a few of the bad ones, a few embarassing ones.... 

You've been there for me through thick and thin.  You've helped to set me straight more than once.  You're frequently my voice of reason.  You've helped me build and end relationships.  And you've been one of the best examples of what it means to be a Christian that I could've ever asked for.  I am so thankful to have a friend that really will answer the phone in the middle of the night and listen, that will cry with me, and that will stand behind me.  You are the very best, of my very best friends and I will love you forever and ever. 

Happy Birthday again.  I hope it is just perfect!