Special Edition

With less than 24 hours to go

I was in deep trouble

to find just the right gift.

You see... I have a friend

who is extremely gifted with creativity

and well...I ran out of ideas.

FALSE. I came up with one

at MIDNIGHT. Is there a friendship rule...

against late presents?

I hope not!

So here it is: 

To Andrea:

Happy Birthday!  

A blogger special edition

Warning: Possible grammar/spelling errors. You have been warned....

Here is the story:

Back in the summer of 2008 I had just moved to the state of Kansas. Not knowing anyone, I spent most of my summer reading books in the only place I knew well at the time being, my house. It wasn't a horrible summer at all, I just felt lonely at times, because the only friends I knew were hundreds of miles away (beside my family). 

Kansas has such friendly people!

After enrolling into my new high school, I started making friends.  The first year, God granted me a lot of plans. My path crossed paths with Andrea's, in a school of 600+ students, when we ended up in a class together. Wellness & Nutrition. Ha. Story of how our friendship arose! During the school year, we were friendly classmates but we never had much time to talk. It wasn't until the spring semester when we both signed up for soccer, that we started to become pals. Both of us being kind-of newbies ended up in the JV team. We did not mind it at all, strict but fun practices payed off to winning most of our matches. The team family environment was my favorite part. When a teammate was down, we united and supported each other.

After my (junior) first school year in Kansas was over, summer begun. One day, Andrea and I set up plans to hang out and the rest was history. Bike rides, movie trips, walks, picnics, etc. Who needs to watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants when you have your own friendship stories in the makings while its summer?!?

 Right in the midst of summer. An unexpected event flipped my world upside down. One of the biggest trials I have had in my life.  The hardest part was sharing the news. The friends I did tell, were truly sympathetic and wanted to help. Andrea, nevertheless, was one of them. Through the rough days of moving from a house to an apartment, no judgment was ever shown. A summer filled with adjusting to moving and life in general wasn't part of the plan, but it had happened. I thought I could no longer hang out with my friends because I needed to give up my time to try and help my family.  Thankfully that wasn't the case completely. Faith was my hope. I knew God had a reason for everything, good or bad, happening.

Many of my friends had a lot of summer plans, Andrea, as well,worked part-time. It was beyond thoughtful of her, to give up her free time to hang out with me almost every week of that summer.

I pray to God for such a gift. Friends. The support, the love, the sympathy, each brother and sister shares with each other. God is so wonderful!

I never felt such joy about life during a trial until that summer (2009).
Andrea impacted the way I saw life, bringing me closer to my faith, supporting me in my lows, celebrating with me in the highs, and keeping the friendship bond through time.

The next school year (my senior year), we only had one class together, but nevertheless, the friendship support was there. The artsy, creative, and intellectual friend of mine (Andrea) always knew how to make someone's day/week/month/year. Whether it was an spontaneous knock on the door with a card and a basket of cookies wishing 'good luck' on my first cross country meet of the year, or the day we baked cookies and biked 10 miles to deliver it as a gift to a friend; the memories I have when I think of Andrea bring a smile to my face.

This last school year has proven that distance has no affect on a friendship, in fact, it makes it stronger.

Motivating each other to work out.

The day we watched Julie & Julia.

A walk downtown.

Boutique window shopping.

Andrea's friends became my friends.

Breakfast challenge week.

She threw me a goodbye party. :')

The most creative B-day party!

Experimenting with tofu.

A birthday surprise.

New friends, new memories.

I am so proud of you Andrea!

This is mi amiga Andrea. Her birthday is today (July 23rd).

Baking Buddy!

A chocolate chip to the cookie of my life. To the person who inspires others. Thank you for being a part of our lives.

To those who have not met Andrea in person, well, now you know a little of what a wonderful person she is. I know there are people all over the world just like her, who have changed so many peoples lives for the better. Thank God for those people. Thank God for all friends. Really. Every single person has a unique gift and has cross our paths for a reason. To make us better, for us to make them better, in the highs and in the lows. 

 

Happy Birthday Andrea!

P.S. You present will be mailed this coming week....sorry, I tend to be late in these kinds of things.