Photo Challenge: Day 14

"A picture of someone you could never imagine your life without."



This is true friend love. I think she looks amazing in this picture, but I look like, well, a happy sleeping marshmallow in a dress. I actually gave her fair warning that there would be a picture of her on my blog, and asked if she'd like to pick the photo. She was going to send me one, but I know she is currently holed up at her eye appointment, blind and stranded. So this will have to do.

I couldn't imagine my life without Rachel. She's usually the first person I "talk" to in the morning (via text) and the last person I'm emailing at 11 o'clock at night. She's another one of my Army wife friends who I see only when our paths happen to cross. Or when she's sick with a barking cough, trying to deal with base housing and calling me on the phone to scream that there's a mouse and the toilet is flooding and she's losing her mind. That's when I jump on the first flight out so that I can entertain a kid and make sure everyone gets fed.

Rachel and I went through pregnancy together (her second, my first). Her daughter and my son are a month apart in age. Even from hundreds of miles away, it was a bonding experience. She's also the reason I decided to go back to school last year a week before I gave birth. I'm not sure if I should thank her for that one yet, but her encouragement has helped me power through most of my junior level courses.

I could go into all the amazing things that Rachel has done. Anyone who knows her is aware that she has more energy, spark, passion, and drive than 5 people combined. She hasn't had it easy, and has worked very hard to get where she is. But in reality, those amazing things are not why she's my friend. I admire her for them, don't ever get me wrong. But she's far more than the things that she's overcome.

Why is she my friend?

-She is the busiest person I know, but she's the first one to send a card or gift or even just an email when things are rough. Or boring.
-Her husband is coming home on R&R in two weeks. The most driven, decisive woman I know has been reduced to panic about what to wear to the airport and has been asking me for advice, knowing full well that I live in pajamas.
-We went to see Twilight a couple years ago at the base theater on Quantico. She got startled by a part of the movie and screamed loud enough that the entire audience turned to look.
-She entertained me, via text, through Sam's whole delivery. All 21 hours of it up to the point where I went in for the c-section.
-One day, her little boy (I think he was 4) sprayed a mean old lady with a hose during a church charity bike build. She took him into the house, scolding him on the way like most moms would, stopped once she got inside the door, turned away from her son, and laughed so hard she cried.
-She never once hid the bad side of pregnancy from me. When we went through the bad parts, we went through them together.
-Rachel is always put together. Her hair is always right, she looks crisp and ironed and always has the perfect accessories. Even though she doesn't think so.
-She will always break whatever diet she's on if we happen to be able to get together near a Bonefish Grill. Because sharing two or three full servings of Bang Bang Shrimp is tradition.

There is so much more of our friendship that can't be covered by a single blog. I won't even try. But I couldn't begin to imagine my life without her.