Have you ever had a friend that you felt was your kindred spirit? You know… the kind of friend that knows every dirty detail there is to be known about you? I don’t even know how to explain it… my words are sounding so rehearsed already. How can I even describe Jessica to you?
Jessica and I grew up in the same small Louisiana town when we were kids. There was never a weekend that we were apart. I’m not sure that there were even many week nights that we were apart. We practically lived with each other at two different houses. As an eleven year old girl I’m not sure that I understood what kind of friendship that she and I truly had back then.
Jessica and I went through some pretty traumatic experiences together, which forever changed our lives. Maybe this is why we are so drawn to each other today, who knows? But because of those traumatic events, we were forced away from each other for years because my father relocated our family to Tennessee! We thought about each other every single day, but went 22 years without knowing where to find each other. But that all changed about a month or so ago when we found each other on FACEBOOK!
We very quickly began planning our reunion! We were not about to let any amount of time go by without seeing each other! We had gone long enough! So she and I decided to meet in Birmingham with our eleven year old daughters because that is the half-way mark between her Florida home and my home in Nashville. And guess what? WE NEVER MISSED A BEAT!
It was though we had stayed best friends for all of these years. There was never an awkward moment! There was never a second that we weren’t sure what to say or how to act. It was like we picked up right where we left off… only a bit more maturely. I’m telling you… God broke the mold when he made us. We are exactly alike. We have the same interests. We have the same goals. We have daughters the same age, exactly two months apart. She and I are only one day apart in age. Heck… even our wedding anniversary is on the SAME exact day! I’ve never been around anyone in my life that has a personality exactly like mine except for Jessica. I feel sorry for Scott when Jessica comes to visit us in Tn because he is seriously going to have TWO of us to deal with.
We all had so much fun on our trip! We stayed at the Embassy Suites in downtown Birmingham. I was really impressed with it. It reminds me of a miniature Opryland Hotel. There were two waterfalls and gardens inside the hotel, and the atrium is where they served made-to-order breakfast every morning.
Our girls, Sidney and Aryn Grace, hit it off just like Jessica and I hoped they would! They reminded me so much of Jessica and me when we were that age! They had so much fun together. I almost shed a tear or two when watching the two of them together. After getting a sugar high from the chocolate YooHoo’s, they decided to jump from bed to bed. I caught a few shots of them in mid air! TOO FUN! If I were 100 pounds lighter, I would have joined them!
Then, of course, there was also the fun they had at the swimming pool in our hotel. This is all they wanted to do all weekend. Everything we did the entire weekend revolved around when they would get to swim. Oh the joys of childhood…
We ate so much food while we were in Birmingham! I bet I gained ten pounds this past weekend. Jessica and I ate Ruth’s Chris Steak House not once, BUT TWICE! It was so good! It was my first time ever eating a Ruth’s Chris steak. I’m not usually a red meat kind of gal to be honest. But this was so yummy! And their sweet potatoes are to die for!… crusted with yummy yummy pecans! Our second meal there, I ate some kind of chicken that was stuffed with a garlic flavored cheese! I might have to go as far as to say this is now my favorite restaurant!… even better than Carrabas.
Unfortunately I didn’t get any pictures of the food at Ruth’s Chris. I wish I had, but felt kind of silly pulling out my camera in a restaurant where the hostess actually places your napkin in your lap for you! But I did get some shots from the Cheesecake Factory where we ate lunch on Saturday. After stuffing our faces full of pasta, we all ordered cheesecake by the slice. I have never eaten cheesecake so yummy in my life! I ordered the turtle cheesecake, Jessica ordered the strawberry shortcake, Sidney ordered the Godiva chocolate cheesecake, and Aryn ordered chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake. We were all so miserable after eating all of that, so we decided to walk around and shop afterward.
We walked around and shopped for a bit. I actually bought myself a shirt from Francesca’s. This is a big deal because I never buy anything for myself like that. We spent several hours shopping, taking pictures, and fighting the girls off about going back to the hotel to swim. I have to say this… I’m so impressed with Aryn Grace and how she behaves. She is so polite, and she respects her mother like I’ve never seen before. Yes mam, no mam, please and thank you were common words that came out of that child’s mouth. I think she may have even rubbed off on Sidney a little bit because before the end of the trip, I actually felt like Sidney appreciated being there with me. That’s huge! You just don’t know. LOL!
And who ever heard of an eleven year old girl appreciating things like Juicy Couture or Vera Bradley. This child wanted a Vera Bradley bag so bad! She had the hardest time picking out the pattern she liked the most! I wanted to take some pictures of the girls shopping at Juicy Couture but I only got this one little pathetic picture of these socks on the antlers before they almost tackled me and took my camera. Apparently cameras are not allowed in the store. Sorry Juicy peeps!
So we returned to the hotel Saturday evening and let the girls swim. We knew that our weekend was coming to an end, and we began to get sad. We slept a little later than we had hoped on Sunday, but we woke up and let the girls skip breakfast so they could swim one last time while Jessica and I ate in the atrium. Then we went in search for a Starbucks because neither one of us had had a decent cup of coffee the whole weekend. After Starubucks, we went to Vulcan Park to take a few pictures of each other. We weren’t leaving Birmingham without some pictures of me and Jessica together… even though I absolutely hate being in FRONT of the camera. Even though the wind was blowing our hair in our faces like crazy, we didn’t care. We handed my camera to the girls and told them to snap a few of us, and we had to be silly! And the girls had a blast rolling down the hills at the park as well! Aryn Grace said, “I’m a girlie girl, but I like to get my pearls dirty.”
We are not going to let much time go by before we see each other again. I can’t express how much Jessica and Aryn mean to me! I am closer to her than I am most of my own family! I LOVE THIS GIRL DEARLY! I am already planning a trip to visit her this May or June in New York when her law firm goes to trial, and again in July when we take the kids to the beach! She is planning on seeing me even before New York, and there is talk of returning to Tennessee with me in July for a bit while Aryn is with her daddy. Oh my goodness!! I must figure out how to get her to Tennessee for good!
I LOVE YOU JESSICA AND ARYN GRACE!
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