From Armadillos to Zeta

Okay so this is a weird title, but I am wondering if the person this blog is about has figured it out yet. This is an alphabetical list of my years of friendship with Lindsey (who by the way is probably my most faithful blog reader). Words really can not describe how I have felt about her over the years, but maybe this will bring back some fun memories. Even though we never get to see one another and I am terrible at keeping touch, I know that time really does not matter. Yes our lives have continued without the presence of one another, but if we were ever in close proximity again I feel we would be as close as we were back in the day. I could have come up with several things on many letters and then some letters are just stretching it but at least maybe she will enjoy it, so let's begin:

Armadillos- Once late night in high school we were tightly packed in Lindsey's Mazda 626 (maybe 8 of us). I think we were on our way back to town or back to Lindsey's because we were out near Maywood. Now we were going quite fast, radio up and lots of talking when all of the sudden we see something in the road. Now Lindsey just hits it full speed. The only thing the two of us in the passengers seat can dot is lift up our feet (like it was going to come through the car and touch us), close our eyes and scream Truthfully I think Lindsey did the same thing. We go back to check it out and yes, the loud bump was an armadillo.
Beaches- Lindsey and I spent our fare share of the time at the beach. Sometimes they were road trips with our parents and sometimes they were road trips with friends. Gulf Shores was our home away from home in the summer of 1999. Our lodging ranges from the others Miller's condo, Richard', my parents condo to the best one of all The Lighthouse. Our days were spent laying by the pool, taking pictures in the ocean, eating, or hanging out at the Track. Oh and let me not forget "beach church" and Lindsey's pondering question of Viagra ( i think it was).
Church- From the time I was in seventh grade until my family moved, Lindsey and I went to
the Hamilton Church f Christ together. Church I think was the foundation of our friendship. You see Lindsey was a year older and were were friends at school, but it was the times that we spent at church activities that brought us closer together. We did our regular church activities like weekly services, Bible bowls, youth rallies, VBS, which included everything from painting to acting and finally our devos that included everything from taboo with the elders to yard rolling wars with the baptist church. Our fun times consisted of eating out anywhere and everywhere after services, late night bowling, movies, hockey games, and eating/sleeping our way through Bron's baseball.
Drive In- No day together would be complete without a stop by the drive in for a meal or just a drink during happy hour or while riding "the Loop" Now some days we traded the Aggie burgers, Swiss delights and slushes for Snow-Biz. I think we were their most loyal customers.
Education- We both share the passion to educate children. Fortunately we had each other t turn to in college. I always enjoyed the classes we shared with one another down in the basement of GC. It was helpful to have someone to bounce ideas off of or study with. it was also comforting to have someone to complain with.
Families- Both of us have definitely been blessed by our families, but we were even more blessed to share those families with one another. Grandaddy and Meemaw were just like my own grandparents. Our moms were interchangeable to me, even if it meant telling me like it was. We attended one anothers family events and my aunt's treated Lindsey just like they would have me.
Golden Girls- Those four old women were the highlight of our evenings in college. We loved many other shows. I mean I will never forget how excited we were when the Facts of Life started coming on Nick at Nite. I always really enjoyed Designing Women, but we always got a good laugh out Blanche, Dorothy, Rose and especially Sophia.
Hitchin' a Ride- If you read my previous blog you know I do not drive, so thankfully I had Lindsey. Now some people would say Lindsey is not that great of a driver, but you know she does quite well compared to me. We spent almost every day of summers riding around together. In college Lindsey was always willing to take me home even when I moved to Florence. She never seemed bothered by me tagging along with her.
Inspirational Mail- Campus mail was a big thing in college. I mean I checked my mail like ten times a day. Everyone hoped for packages from home or little notes from friends. Lindsey always knew when I was having a bad day because she would always send me a little card to cheer me up. I still have all my mail.
Jackson- When we had nothing else to do what better way to kill time than to drive to Jackson. Some days we had a purpose like eating or going to Target while others we played around at Wal-Mart, roamed Davis Kidd and walked around the mall. Was there ever a week that we did not go to Jackson?
Knowing the Real Me- Something I can admit about myself is have I am not a trusting person. I really only let those close to in. That may be a bad quality, but I know that my close friends re true friends through and through. I can say only a handful of people know almost everything about me. What I will say is that Lindsey always took the time to know the real me the things that were behind the facade.
Lunches- Lunch was always an important part of all of our days. It started out in high school with our big lunch crowd. You never new what would go down at that table. Summers were spent floating around to grandparents houses or Dinelli's. Even in college we ate together a good part of the time. Since we were not big Gano eaters we usually hung out down in the student center with Lyndsie, Beth, Nick or whoever else was around.
Maywood- I could spend a whole other blog on Maywood, but almost all of my memories included Lindsey. All the late nights, schemes, sneaking out and even the spiritually uplifting moments. I was always at home out there and have more memories that are closest to my heart than almost anywhere else.
Nick- I could say so many things about Nick. A lot of my memories in college of Lindsey included Nick. I was so happy when Lindsey found him. Nick could always make me laugh. He never cared that I was their third wheel sometimes. I became just as close to nick as I was to Lindsey. He definitely always made me laugh. I am sure he could have tired of our craziness but usually he just jumped right in.
Organization- Now I have no idea if she is the same way, but the two of us used to be the most organized people I knew. We were always cleaning and organizing. We would even hang out together to clean out closets. I will admit I am not as bad as I used to be, but a little organization is not a bad thing.
Pool Days- Lindsey was a certified lifeguard, so we spent a lot of time at the pool. On occasion we had to go to the rec, but most summer days were spent at Cara's or Maywood. we had a whole set of Maywood pool memories (Florence week getting us and Jeremy kicked out). We usually let Mackenzie, Kelsi,Marcy and/or Heather tag along for our pool adventures. If the sun was out we were at the pool.
"Quiet" Library Times- If one of us ever came up missing then chances were we were hiding out in the library. We started out upstairs hanging out, but that scene got a little crowded, so by Lindsey's senior year we moved down to the back in the AV section. come to find out that was where the upper classmen did their "studying". Now do get me wrong sometimes during the day we really did have to go study, but at night it was just a social party. Our other study hang out was GC classrooms. We did have some good laughs in Loden Daniel though.
Restaurants- I bet the two of us could review any restaurant in the Jackson, Tupelo or Hamilton areas. I think if we would have had enough money we would have eaten out every meal whether while away at school or at home. We were aways up for trying new ones. This is another one that I could write a while blog about. Some things I will never forget are my mom's cherry pancakes from cracker barrel, Wednesday nights at Louie's, Dumplins, Mcallister's, meeting our parents in Corinth at the Smokin Jack Stack, driving from Hamilton to Tupelo just to eat and all the places in Hamilton to get a "good" meal. I am sure their are other things, but I will just say we never missed a good meal or especially a good dessert like a tall cake from Ruby Tuesday's.
Suitemates- Lindsey and I both lived in Dixon Hall during our tenure at FHU. My first semester I lived on the first floor, but by the spring I moved up to the the third floor. We then had a wall between us. It was my sophomore year that we became suitemates. Strangely enough we were roommate. I think we needed the opportunity to have alone time every so often. Lindsey had a cast of characters for roommates (I do not mean that rude, they just changed every so often) and then of course I had Elizabeth (we'll talk about her another time:) We have all kinds of memories in Dixon whether it was mischief to all sleeping together to keep warm in winter. There was rarely a dull moment in suite 310-312.
Travel- Our ups and downs always came with travel. I have already talked about beach trips and we also went on some fun trips...I think I even talked about Atlanta in another blog. I guess our most memorable trip that really brought our friendship closer was the trip out west. Now I am not getting in to the horrible details..Lindsey and I know everything that happened right down to trying to figure h=out how to fly home. We also had some good times on our 3 day trip to Canada and back. The trips with our moms were also usually quite memorable, even if they hated when we stayed up giggling.
Understanding One Another- We always seemed to understand one another. we knew when we needed a little break or when we needed the other even when we thought we needed to be alone. I think even now Lindsey could still understand me better than a lot of people, but I would let her in quicker than most other people.
Vinegar- I guarantee no one else could have a thing for vinegar related products. Green beans with vinegar (I would have mentioned green beans on G, but I knew it would come up here), cucumbers soaked in vinegar, pickles, salt vinegar or dill pickle chips. Now I will admit I do not get to eat many of those things anymore, but when I do I always think of Lindsey.
Winfield- The two of us worked for a short time at a health center in Winfield. We always found some of our coworkers and their drama interesting. we also always had fun times riding to and from Winfield. My favorite memory was one Saturday morning we had to be there at like six, we had had a late night on Friday, so since no one was actually at the pool or in the child care center we took a nap at the pool.
XBX- For a short time we were both in Chi Beta Chi at FHU. We both bowed out during our upperclass years. We did have some fun times those during Makin Music and especially inermurals (especially trying to tackle in flag football).
Young and the Restless- I mentioned earlier that we both liked certain TV shows, but I had to save this one. In the summer we always had to tune in to this soap. If we were not together we would sit on the phone and talk until it was over...then go to lunch then pool. Now I will admit I still tune in from time. Okay so I record it and watch the parts i want to see.
Zeta- For some strange reason when Lindsey gets tired she seems to forget the names of her close friends. I was Lakey, Katie was Zeta and I can not remember Paige's name. We earned our names at Maywood but they stuck for years. Zeta was also part of some of our greatest memories too. We had some wonderful times in Hamilton Alabama, but our manger scene arrangements one Christmas has to be up there as one of the best.

I am sure some of you have been bored by this, but I hope some of you have enjoyed it. I know I have loved think back to all those wonderful times It definitely makes me wish that I kept in better touch with the Pritchard's. Lindsey was the one who guilted e into the 25 Random Things on Facebook, so it was only natural that I talked about her during my Random Thing in February. Like I said earlier I do believe we have had the kind of friendship that time and space can not contend with. Like Lindsey said to me once before, old friends are the best friends.