Mekahlia

"You better put these up on your blog!"

"Ummm... I haven't done a work blog for a few years."

"Oh." 

There are some things that only your best friend of nearly three decades can say to you and when they do, you just laugh.  There are at least a million quotes about friendship...


“Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You too? I thought I was the only one.” ― C.S. Lewis


“A friend is someone who knows all about you and still loves you.” ― Elbert Hubbard

“When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.” ― Henri J.M. Nouwen,


“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” Winnie the Pooh


“We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet.
Even longer,' Pooh answered.”


“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you.” 


Each of those quotes remind me of my friend Jill.  I have been incredibly blessed to call Jill my friend for almost 3/4 of my life.  (I'm going to completely ignore how old this post will make me sound and feel.)  Throughout junior high and high school we were "BBB"  Best Bus Buddies.  We sat together each day on the way to and from school.  It wasn't a long ride.  I only lived three miles from the school but there was just something about knowing that someone was saving you a seat.  Every day she saved my seat and we've been doing that for each other ever since.

Of course we don't ride buses any longer (Thank you Lord!) but that sense of knowing that no matter what is happening in life, like Elbert Hubbard inferred in the quote above, someone in the world gets me.  We don't have to say anything at all and yet, we'll sit up talking and giggling so hard that our stomachs hurt the next day and the bags under our eyes have their own zip codes.  Like I said, I'm blessed to have such a friend.

Well, the blog post she commanded ;) is one I'm just as blessed to share with all of you... even though it makes me feel even older!

This young beauty is her oldest daughter, Mekahlia and she is a high school SENIOR...

Sigh.  I can't believe she's a senior.  This gorgeous young lady was the first person to call me "Aunt" and it's a title I have loved with all my heart!  I was there the day she was born.  It was my first experience with natural childbirth.  Jill is way tougher than me and opted not to have an epidural... and let me tell you, while she is a lovely person on any other day of her life, don't talk to her when she's in labor.  I didn't.  :)  In fact, I stayed in the hall... listening.

I can only imagine how the hospital staff had to laugh at us that day.  Both of Mekahlia's grandmothers and myself stood outside of the delivery room with our ears stuck to the door listening to all that was going on inside.  We didn't know if she was a boy or a girl until that day and I can still see the tears spilling over her daddy's eyes when he opened the door and told us the news. 

When she was just a year old I lived with them one summer break.  It was a different time in life back then and I stayed out much too late and every morning I'd wake up to the same sweet sound "Aunt Da!  Aunt Da!"  She'd come toddling in and wake me up just an hour or two after I'd arrived home.  We'd spend the days singing, dancing and watching Winnie the Pooh. Clearly I didn't need as much sleep back then. 

She has since grown into a beautiful, smart and wonderful woman who laughs at me when I try to keep her in line or treat her like she's still my little girl.  She has a wonderfully ridiculous silly side, a great sense of humor and a kindness that makes my heart so happy.  I don't know that she'll ever be able to grasp just how proud of her I am.

Here are just a few more of the crazy ridiculous number of photos we took over a couple of days.

Just so that everyone knows, my payment for this session was Cashew Chicken at Leong's Tea House on Springfield, MO and it was delicious!!!  I guess I should get a sign that says "Will work for food."    :)

Hey Jill, I put them on a blog.  :)