The Girls

On Monday night I got to go out for coffee with my 3 college roomate/suitemates, Jessica, Holly, and Kate. It was a bittersweet evening that resulted in some reflection on my part. I decided to post my thoughts on my blog-- even though it's not a baby story. (Although here is the baby story part of it... my husband stayed home and took care of the babies for me. Isn't he awesome?)
I've known Jessica the longest. Jessica's family moved to our church sometime around middle school. We were in the same circle of friends but didn't become close friends until college when we took lots of trips back and forth to Mobap in the $100 luxury car!

If I had to come up with one word to describe Jess, I'd say "maternal". She would hate that but it's a good thing... let me elaborate. Jessica is the responsible one. Jessica is probably the ONE REASON we all still get together and stay in contact. She remembers all the important dates- birthdays, kids birthdays, sometimes even the birthdays of our siblings kids! She organizes the get togethers and play dates. I remember back in youth group, telling Jessica, "You're the mature one so you should do blah, blah, blah." And I think she hated it. BUT her maternal instinct has not only benefited our bond as friends, she is also a FANTASTIC mother to 2 kids. She doesn't baby or spoil her kids but she's not too harsh. I'm sure she never forgets a playdate or special event at school!
Jessica is also good at talking. She knows this to be true... she probably can talk the most of all of us. But here's the thing, she's not boring. I could (and probably have) listen to Jess talk on a several hour road trip without getting bored. Maybe it's because we have a lot in common She also can and will talk to anyone and can put people at ease in a matter of minutes.


I met Holly freshman year at Mobap. We had a few classes together. I remember that she had curly hair some days and straight hair other days and she told me I wore a lot of vests (which I did). I have no idea when we went from being classmates to being best friends but somewhere along that year it happened! We were pretty much the crazy, silly girls on campus. I think some people loved us. I know that some people (the baseball players that lived below our dorm room) hated us. But we didn't care either way. We just had a lot of fun and laughed A LOT... well except for that one night that the baseball players made us cry! There are way too many silly memories to record here but the real reason Holly was my best friend in college was because she could be really, really deep. We could talk about anything and everything and nothing. I really think we challenged each other to grow stronger in our walks with God.
When I lived with Holly for 2 years, I discovered a great character trait of Holly. She is very emphathetic. She can't watch those commercials of starving children without bawling. Actually she can't even talk about those commercials. Actually, if she reads this, she's probably crying by the end of this sentence thinking about it. She has such a kind heart. I see this in her now as she interacts with her children. She seems to try to understand where they are coming from. She has 4 kids but she remains positive, energetic, and under control.


Kate joined our gang when she got paired up with Jessica as a roommate. Eventually Jessica and Kate became suitemates with Holly and me. Kate is smart and funny, but mostly I think she's passionate. I remember in college she wrote a strongly worded letter to the dean when an unpopular but highly qualified professor got fired. She felt like Mobap needed people like him to make it better academically. We convinced her to scrap some of her strongly worded essay to the dean... but I loved her passion!
Kate has been through some tough stuff during the past few years but instead of withering away and having a pity party, she used her passion to push on. She knew that God had better for her and she became determined to pursue whatever that was. This choice led her to her husband, Kyle, whom she is passionate about.

She is also an amazing writer. She will most likely be famous someday. If you want to read a real blog, go here: seriously, it's a great blog that is relevant to probably every reader of my blog... all 5 of you.
Here is the bittersweet part. Last night was probably our last time to hang out as a foursome for a long, long time. Kate's family is being relocated to Boston. Holly's family is going to Oklahoma to start a church. How I would love to keep them here and meet up for coffee and long chats every couple of months. But I've come to this conclusion, women in other parts of the country need the friendships that these ladies are going to provide. To keep that many women with amazing gifts all in one city would just be wrong. Luckily, God is letting me keep one in the STL area... and it's the one who is off all summer. Jess, get ready for the playdates!

When the rest of the world encounters these ladies, they'll think they are phenomenal women. And they'll be right. But to me, they'll always just be my girls.