Step-on-me

Did anyone else catch the Full House reference in the title?

Growing up, I always had a large group of friends. If you asked someone if they knew Dana their answer would probably be,"Oh yeah, I know her. She's really nice." In this large group of friends, I only had a select handful that I would call my best friends, but it wasn't until my sophomore year at college when I met Stephanie that I knew what true friendship and sisterhood really was. I love this picture of us because it was taken during the BCM Banquet that year. I have several thoughts about me in this picture:

1. Wow! My hair was blonde from highlights then. I didn't realize how blonde I really was.

2. Who wears a huge Vera Bradley purse with such a nice dress?

3. Dang! I was skinny!!

Anyways, my roomie was my date for the evening because Andrew didn't know any of those folks and hates the unknown.

Steph and I barely knew each other at all when we decided to live together. I was supposed to live with Rebecca and something happened (which I don't remember at this time) and I ended up living with Steph. I was really scared and nervous about living with her because I didn't think that I was going to be able to be myself. The summer before we moved in together, I drove to Clarksville so that we could get to know each other better. I remember 2 things from that trip:

1. I was really sick and I didn't want to tell her.

2. While I was sick with a fever, Steph insisted on going through the entire Alphabet and wanted to share with me which letters she liked to write in cursive. She had a lot of opinions on the last names of guys that she could possibly marry because of what their last names started with. I was miserable!

Our sides of the room were completely different. Hers' was yellow and black. Mine was bright pinks and purples and I tend to leave my cereal bowls everywhere and my milk would sour. Oops, sorry Steph. I was really messy and she tried to be neat and would even make her bed.

I couldn't have had a better roommate.

Our friendship was different than any other friendships that I had had. Not only did we have fun together and laugh all of the time, but I learned what it was like to really be encouraging to someone and to have someone keep you accountable. I had never had a friend that cared about my walk with Christ before. We talked about things more honestly than the friends I thought were the best friends that I had ever had did.

We lived together for three years and I wouldn't trade them for anything. The summer after we graduated, I had already gotten a job in Bolivar. Stephanie left for Summer Conference and knew that when she returned my things would be moved out of our apartment. I don't think either one of us had cried that hard in a while. One of my favorite things that Stephanie has ever said was,"Towards the end of our friendship..." What she meant was towards the end of us living together, but it was even more funny because it was just a different step in our friendship, not the end.

Luckily (I think it was a God thing) Steph got a job in Jackson. There were many weeks when we saw each other 3 times a week, and talked on the phone at least 20 times. Luckily I have a husband that understands how important it is for me to talk to Stephanie.

Before Ms. Ryan got the job in Jackson, she had big dreams of moving to far away places. She was ready to move to Alaska, California, or even Hawaii if she got the chance. Now it's time for her to take that step towards those far away states, and it's time for her to move to Baton Rouge, LA.

I'm in denial about how far away she is going to be. I am already planning a trip to visit her in May. It won't be long now before I will be logging into her facebook account to see who she is talking about. She is going to be meeting all these fascinating people that I won't know or be able to meet.

I am so proud of my best friend and I can't wait for her to show those people what passion and love for the news looks like.

I haven't cried yet, but I can feel the tears starting to come. I guess I better end this thing and change her ringtone to Callin' Baton Rouge by Garth Brooks. I knew I always liked that song!