My best friend!

I have always had many different types of friends. Friends that were fun to hang out with. Friends that I can talk to and feel happy. And then there are those friends that I can cry to, yell at and  laugh my butt off with. The ones that are stable. And I want to introduce you to my best friend Greenie. Well her Real name is Tanya, but to me she will always be Greenie! Full name Greenie Beanie!

Greenie and I met in Metamora, Illinois at a girl scout camp called Tapawingo, in May of 1998. We had both signed up to be cooks for the summer with a program called Hungry Camper. I arrived by train to Bloomington, Illinois, then was driven by my new boss to the camp. When I arrived Greenie was standing outside our little cabin in the woods!  Isn't it cute! There were 2 cabins in the whole camp that had electricity and we were lucky enough to have one of them. So I introduced myself to her and we hit it off instantly. Soon we were old pals working together running the kitchen and causing all kinds of mayhem. Because of us working at a Girl Scout Camp, all the counselors and staff were supposed to have nicknames so that the girls didn't know our real names. I don't know why we needed them, but I had a name already from my first 2 summers of working with the Girl Scouts. My name was Brownie and hers was Greenie Beanie, shortened to Greenie! We always called each other by our camp names and got so used to it, we didn't need our real names. I had never had a friend like her before. We spent all our time together in the kitchen and out of it. We learned so much about each other and yet we still remained best of friends. She learned that it is best not to try and wake me up early and I learned not to go canoeing with her unless I wanted to do all the work She helped me learn so much about life. She was the smartest and most mature person I had ever met. She still is! During the camp days you could find us working in the kitchen, swimming at the pool, or singing at the campfires.  That is us right there, don't we look cool?

Both of us love to sing and her voice is phenomenal! We used to sing at our counselor cookouts, The Rose. And at the end of camp we even turned The Rose into our own special song The Rose of Tapawingo. The year I met Greenie was also the year I met my future husband John. And as I wrote letters to him that summer, I shared my thoughts and fears with Greenie. Her guidance helped me through the scary points of having a new relationship. Like when he had a motorcycle wreck and I couldn't be there with him, and when we said I love you the very first time. She laughed with me and cried with me and cooked with me and sang with me. What a blessing she is to me!
We even sang a song together called Chances Are and sent it on tape to John! How cheesy we were!






For two summers in a row we went to camp and spent the summers laughing and living. I felt that we were on a special world, cut off from the hard parts of life and hidden from the elements. She became my soul mate! Sorry John, it's true! I have never felt so at home with anyone else. After camp though, we found it hard to not let life get in between us. Greenie shipped off to Maine to get her Bachelor's Degree and I settled into married life. We talked quite often and even wrote journals back and forth to each other.
In 2003, I got to visit her in Maine and got to go to the ocean for the first time! I was like a kid in a candy

Greenie and Maia on Graduation day

store. I even made a castle! We had fun hanging out on the college campus and going to parties. I also met one of Greenie's new friends Abby, and learned to love her too! We all enjoyed hanging out and having a good time. The longer the years went though, the more we grew. Most friends I have had grow away from me. We end up at different points in life that don't mesh. Greenie and I never have. We always grow together! Sure we have both had really down points in our lives at different times, but instead of it pulling us apart, we grow even closer. She will always be someone I look up too.  Greenie started blogging before me and I was encouraged to blog by reading her work. Now granted she has a degree in writing and I can barely spell, but it doesn't matter. She is my best friend and that will always be! I love her and am thankful every day for her! Check out Greenie's blog here and her new blog that she writes to Joslyn, her goddaughter here! I am so proud to call her friend! To this day we still talk regularly and we plan to take a cruise in 2013 together. We even want to try and go to Italy in 2017 to take Joslyn on a tour of Europe! She is a big part of my life and I cherish every moment with her. Thank you Greenie for being my best friend!