Peas in a Pod

Yesterday's topic for our TRL blog challenge was "Attatched at the hip? Two Peas in a Pod? How did you meet your s.o./best friend? Tell us about that first time meeting them. Did you hit it off instantly or think they were stalking you?"

I've told the story about how The Hub and I met many times, and some of my closest friends read this, so y'all already know how we met. ;) Instead, I decided to blog about my "ya-ya's". That's what The Hub named us. When I first met this group of ladies and started getting to know them, they reminded me of the characters in "Steel Magnolias", but The Hub swears that we're the Ya-Ya's instead.

When we first moved to SC, I was a hermit in the worst way. One day I got an email from a lady who had just moved to the area and was looking for other scrapbookers to get together with. She called and we made plans to meet up at Starbucks, bring some of our albums, and get acquainted. We hit if off instantly, and over the years, she's become like a sister to me. That's Michelle. Crazy, funny, beautiful inside and out. She's a bundle of energy who burns the candle at both ends. At any given time she has so much going on at once that it'd make a normal person's head spin.

After meeting her, I decided to go to one of the weekly crops at the LSS. The store owner (Janet) seemed like a nice lady, and The Hub kept nudging to get me out of my shell. When I got there, the store owner and these three other ladies were laughing and cutting up and having such a great time. They weren't actually scrapbooking, but they were having fun! Because they aren't the quiet, shy type, they introduced themselves, asked me all about myself and had me laughing and having a great time before the night was over. That's how I met Lorrie, Sharon, and Paula. How do I even begin to describe this group? They're funny, amazing, kind, loving, crazy, wonderful women. They're the kind of friends who welcome you into the family for life. While my relationship with all of them is wonderful, my friendship with Janet is different. Janet and I became very close and confide in each other about so much.

Several months later, Amy joined us. She and I didn't hit off so much when we first met. She was quiet, reserved, very religious, SAHM to four kids that she home-schools and kept to herself at the opposite end of the room for a long time. The first night she came to crop, I think she thought I was the devil reincarnate. I was wearing my HIM t-shirt, baggy carpenter jeans, black clunky combat-style boots, several bracelets and rings, my leather cord necklaces, had four earrings in each ear, and had short, red spiky hair and dark blue fingernails. Me being the kind of person I am, found it very amusing. She eventually came around and we became friends, too.

Whenever a new person would reserve a spot on crop night, Janet would always tell the five of us to "Behave". We could be a bit loud, talked about everything under the sun, and would break into song at any given moment. Oh, and we rarely got any layouts done on crop nights. Dinner beforehand was a must for us. By the time we all got done eating, it was 7:30 or 8pm and the crop was supposed to be over at 8:30. We NEVER left that store before 10 or 11pm.

I can't imagine my life without the "Ya-ya's" in it. Even though I live over 300 miles from them now, we still keep in contact. As soon as we can, The Hub and I will be moving back there, and they'll once again be a part of my daily life.

*Since Blogger's being a PITA right now, I can't upload a pic. grrrr*