Naomi

So Naomi and I go way back. I was a junior, she was a freshman, on the same floor at Moody. She claims she thought I was such a cool upper-classman. And really, she was probably right. I had the groovy "big" 80s hair {which shockingly is coming back into style. Why just last night I saw FEATHERED hair. BIG feathered hair. Gross really.}

So we met then ... but didn't really become friends until one afternoon, after we had both graduated from college, I was wandering through Marshall Fields and there she was, working at a make-up counter. So I stopped and we chatted and wondered what we were each up to. For whatever reason, we hit it off instantly and decided that the next day we would go camping. So there you go.

We were (and are for that matter) just THAT spontaneous. Reality was, we were basically strangers, but knew of each other ... but hey, we both loved to camp and we loved to laugh so it was an instant friendship.

And that first weekend adventure turned into hundreds more.

Naomi is my adventure buddy. ALWAYS up for an adventure. ALWAYS. We named ourselves "Kee-Kee and Lee-Lee" and we were always on the road. Or in the air. We love convertibles, so a fair number of our adventures involved rented mustangs. We'd jump on a plane, head to Seattle, pick up our rental car, and hit Route 1 along the West Coast. We'd stop when we felt like it. When something piqued our interest. When the beauty of God's creation was too breath-taking and it just called us to stop and tent and explore. All the while, music was blaring as we tooled down the highway, wind in hair, singing and harmonizing together at the top of our lungs. {And don't you worry - when the weather was frigid, we would blast the heat and still have the lid down on the convertible ... because if you have a convertible there is NO reason not to have the lid down. Well, we did put it up for rain ... and the occasional snow. But otherwise, temperatures did not deter us. Never.}

Jack has affectionately called Nay and I the "over girls." You know. Over-zealous. Over-achievers. Overly LOUD. Overly out-of-control. Generally over the top in whatever. Wherever. Why-ever.

So this week, being with Nay is great. When I headed to Indonesia, she went to Africa. And when we both ended up back stateside, she made her way down to Nashville ... so we don't talk often, and we don't see each other often, but when we do, we make up for lost time.

We've been laughing ... and talking ... and doing wedding stuff ... and reminiscing ...

We have so many great stories. Wanna hear one?

Okay. So there we were, shortly after we had met each other we decided to take a week-long vacation and make our way to the Appalachian trail beginning in Gatlinburg, TN ... because, why not? It was an adventure.

So we drove down, leaving Chicago on July 3rd. Of course, we didn't reserve a hotel room along the way because remember, we're spontaneous. So who needs reservations? Ya, that might have been our first mistake.

So we drove and drove and DROVE and couldn't find a hotel ... so it got to be 2am -ish- in the morning and I just couldn't keep my eyes open. So we pulled into a Denny's parking lot ... took out our sleeping bags, rolled them out, and slept right there in the parking lot of Denny's. {because it was safe, people. I mean, who's gonna hurt us in the parking lot of Denny's.}

So, we stayed there for awhile but this yippy little dog was yipping too loudly, driving us in sane (his owners were actually IN Denny's eating) ... so we got up, packed up our sleeping bags and decided to drive on.

We were in the hills of Kentucky at this point .... so we found a sign for a State Park ... perfect. We could set up shop and sleep. So we drove down these dangerous roads, winding through the night, finally happening upon this state park and voila, it was CLOSED.

NO WAY.

But, little Ranger Bob was in his little booth, protecting the camp, but, he was one of those rule followers. A stickler for rules. So he would NOT let us into the park to set up our tent ... So, we gave him the guilt trip of, we've been driving for 10 hours and if we get back on the country road I'm going to fall asleep and drive us off a cliff and then we'll both be dead. So, Ranger Bob, could we at least sleep here in the parking lot, right by your little booth, until 7am when the park opens? And could you protect us if bears or serial killers come our way?

He took pity on us, nice little ranger that he was ... so we rolled out our sleeping bags on the cement in THAT parking lot ... and promptly fell asleep. For several hours.

And then we awoke. Apparently, this is a very POPULAR state park, especially on Saturday mornings. Because when we lifted our heads, and let our eyes follow the noise, we saw a HUGE, and I do mean HUGE line of people standing, waiting to get in to the National Park ...

And then were staring at us ... wondering who the FREAKS were that were sound asleep ON the parking lot ...

So we did what all good Illinois folks do. We just smiled, waved and said, "We're not from these here parts, so we'll just be heading on our merry little way."

So for the 2nd time in just a few short hours, we packed up our bags, got into the car, and drove down the road, blaring the music, laughing our silly little heads off.

That's my Nay Nay ..

More to come.