My bestest bud

You know when you go to buy a new mattress, and they say something like – ‘Now remember, you SLEEP more than you do anything else in your life – so, invest in a GOOD mattress.’

I’ve been thinking about that same concept, when it comes to relationships. You have your friends, the ones you see every other weekend or so. But, really, the people you spend the most time with – other than your spouse and kids – are the people you work with. Right? 9 hours a day – 5 days a week. I know I don’t spend that kinda time with people that Dan & I call “FRIENDS”.

My bestest bud left me today.

Her schedule allows her to be gone most of the summer, where mine only allows 3 weeks off in July. So, here I am, alone in a place, without my bestest ally and my favorite FRIEND.

I will miss her this summer because:

• She’s everything I look up to in a PROFESSIONAL. She always has the right thing to say at the right time, to keep everyone at ease. She fixes problems instantly by saying one sentence. She’s the perfect role model for someone like me, as I often speak before thinking, and then regret it later.
• I respect her opinion more than I do my own. No matter if it’s a professional issue, or a personal issue. She looks at things from a practical/common sense approach, (which I’m used to, because Dan’s the same way). She tells me like it is – ALWAYS - even if I don’t want to hear it. She always tells me the truth. Which, in the end, makes me a stronger person.
• On the days I forget my water bottle – she always has an extra “vitamin water” - that she wasn’t going to drink anyway :).
  
• Right after I spend the weekend talking to Dan - (“Maybe, if we sold all this stuff, I could afford to quit my job”) – she comes in Monday morning, and drops a STARBUCKS gift card on my desk, with a note telling me all the good things about myself, and why I am very valuable to the school.
• I’ve said this before, but it is worth repeating. She is the one that shares her armor with me in the ‘war zone’, as we TOGETHER try to dodge random ‘land mines’. The one that gives me a look, as she walks past my desk, that says, “Hang in there, I know we work in a ‘ONE FLEW OVER THE COO COOS NEST’ ENVIRONMENT, but if you can’t make it today, I will be there for you, and if I can’t make it through the day, you will be there for me – and we will both survive the day” – and all she did was look at me.

Thank you, Carolyn, for always being there for me in this CRAZY life called – WORK.
I could never make it without you. Thank you for supporting me when I can’t support myself. And thank you for listening to the CRAZY-NESS that comes out of my mouth.

Thank you for being my bestest bud!
~Kristie