My Friend Who Started It All

Hello everyone....have you missed me? I hate when things get so busy and stressful that I don't have time to blog. Occasionally someone will tell me that they read my blog and that they miss getting more frequent updates. Awwwwwwww....that just touches my heart.


So on to today's subject: My friend Wendy D. Well....where do I begin? First, her birthday was this week so major birthday shout outs to her! She's a wonderful friend and I'm very blessed to know her. She is one of the most giving and caring people I've ever met. She is really selfless and will do anything for a close friend. Seriously.


I met Wendy several years ago. He has one biological son and daughter. When her son was in the fourth grade, they adopted a girl from Russia. She was also in the fourth grade. At the time, I had a student that was bilingual in Russian and English so it only made sense that her new daughter would be put in my class. I had heard that this might be happening from Wendy's son's teacher earlier in the year. She (the teacher friend) told me that one of her student's families was adopting a child and they because of the Russian connection to my student, the child would be placed with me. Several months went by and nothing happened. And then it did.


I gladly accepted this member to our class. I remember Wendy doing everything she could to make her child feel comfortable. I can only imagine what it feels like to go to a new country when people don't speak your language and you're only 9. I had several interactions with Wendy in the next months. We talked a lot about how to make her new daughter's transition easier. I hope I was able to be a part of that smooth transition.


At the time, I was a looping teacher. That means that I take one group of fourth graders and move up to fifth grade with them. I got Wendy's daughter in March of her fourth grade year. Her son was in someone else's fourth grade class. Of course I looped up with her daughter and got the bonus of having her son in fifth grade as well. Both of them are darling people. Fifth grade flowed smoothly. Wendy is one those parents that you can always call on to help in the classroom and with parties and stuff. You couldn't ask for a better room parent. I don't know what I did to deserve her, but I was grateful for her.


Then several years went by. We met up at the Fourth of July fireworks where we all ended up camping out on the same soccer field. It happened several years in a row. It's now a regular thing. In that time we also went to their house to go swimming in their pool. Good times. Her youngest daughter was coming up to fourth grade. We were both hoping that I would have her in my class. (Side note here....it's really nice when you make connections with a family and you can have multiple children from that family in your class.) Initially her daughter wasn't placed in my class. All I can say is that Wendy made miracles happen. Her daughter ended up in my fourth grade class. And I love her. Just like I love her other kids.


Somewhere in the fall of 2008, I saw Wendy at school. I think maybe she had come to eat lunch with her daughter that was in my class. We got to talking about my latest obsession at the time....the Twilight books. It turns out that Wendy was an even larger fan of Twilight than I was. I didn't think it was possible. Wendy and one of her friends made arrangements to rent out a movie theater for the midnight premiere of Twilight when it came out in November. I was able to go with her. (We went to see the movie many more times after that.) Since then, Twilight has brought us closer together. We share the obsession.


Sometime the following spring, I introduced Wendy to my friend Kathy....the stalker I wrote about a few posts ago. We immediately hit it off. Since that time, we've been pretty close. A week doesn't go by that we don't go and eat, hang out, or watch a movie. As a bonus, all of our kids hang out together. And the Twilight obsession continued.....


When Twilight was released on DVD this last spring, it was Wendy that I stood in line with at Sam Goody's for my copy. And it was in Wendy's van that we all went to so could watch the deleted scenes from the DVD of Twilight that we had just bought. We literally laid in the van and watched part of the movie in the parking lot.


This past summer, Wendy, Kathy, and I took a road trip. We had a great time in Birmingham. We shopped and ate and ate and ate. We shared many laughs. There are stories that I could never tell, and I hope they would never tell on me.


This March, Wendy, Kathy, and I are going to Atlanta for a Twilight convention. Yes, you read that correctly. (Side note here....Kathy watched Twilight and New Moon with us but she's not a huge fan like we are.) Kathy is going to hang out and be lazy while Wendy and I are going to enjoy ourselves with all the craziness that is Twilight. There's no one else I would ever dream of going with. Or for that matter.....probably no one else would want to go with me. Either way, it works.


So....long story short....Wendy is a dear, dear friend. She is kind and funny and generous. She loves her friends and is very loyal. And she's the one that started the Twilight obsession...and for that, I'm so grateful....


Happy Birthday Wendy! I love you!