Ode to Alana

Every night Lennon asks for the same thing.

"Tell me a story about Holly and Alana."

Last night was the time we splattered Jell-o all over my mom's kitchen.  Another favorite was the time we popped microwave popcorn for 30 minutes intstead of 3 minutes so we took the black bag and hid it under her sister Lisa's bed.  Smoking up the whole room.  He likes the ones about meeting every summer morning in front of the Woods' house with towels around our necks and running across the golfcourse to the pool.  And then there were the retreats to East Canyon, the trips to Lake Powell, Disneyland, getting sunburned at Lake Mead and jumping off her balcony.

There are so many more.

Alana and I met 26 years ago in preschool.  We did everything together until we graduated high school.  When I say everything, I mean it.  The day before our senior year we cut off our long locks together. We spent cheer camp each summer sharing a dorm room and staying up late laughing into the night.  Our secrets were safe with each other.  Just thinking about this stuff makes me want to cry because I always felt like I had three sisters.  Kristi, Kari, Alana.  She is family.

And today she turns 30.  And she should consider herself lucky my scanner wasn't working because I had some GEMS of pictures to post.  Junior high dance pictures.  Cheer camp pictures.  High school dance pictures.  Pictures of us in our glasses at Lisa's apartment our freshman year.  Pictures of us on the beach in Florida.  And yes, I was wearing overall shorts.  Awesome.

Instead here are some recent pictures I hacked off Alana's FB page.  Without permission.  Just because I think it's important you see that she looks like this (last girl on your left):

This is her in Kaui a couple weeks ago.  Yes, those abs are real.  She is 30 and looking better than ever.  And here's the best part: I don't even hate her for it.  In fact, that's a big factor in our relationship - genuine concern when things are bad and genuine happiness for one another when things are good.  If she loses 10 pounds it's almost as good as me losing 10 pounds.  Almost.  That is not easy to find in a friend.  We've cried over breakups, divorce, death, tough decisions and we've celebrated over weddings, new jobs, purchased homes,  partner buy-outs and babies born.  That is a real friend.  Look at those abs one more time...

 She's spent the last couple years traveling all around the world from Dubai (pictured above with Heidi), to Costa Rica (where she was mugged)(but she's okay), Hawaii, and more.  She is the reason I love rollercoasters.  She was adventurous even as a little kid.  And she never sat still.  She had a gym mat in front of her TV and we never sat on the couch and relaxed.  We were stretching, we were lunging, we were back flipping, we were back bending, we were..........................

(Most recent picture of us with her buddy Becca.  Plus my crazy eyes.)

(Alana and Ace recently)

Happy Birthday to my best friend of 26 years. 

I think the next 30 are going to be even better than the first 30. Love you.