Late to bed, early to rise, and I survived!

My plan to start going to bed earlier lasted a whopping two days.

A friend of mine, with whom I lost touch with about the time Meredith was born, found me on Facebook. We’ve been trying to plan a lunch since last March and decided Wednesday evening cocktails at my house would work much better.

When Brandon and I first moved here after college I had a hard time finding anyone my own age to hang out with. I had plenty of older friends from work and Linda, my mother-in-law, was always up for a craft show.

One day while on the phone with my mother, I mentioned I’d purchased a dried floral arrangement at a craft festival. She got really quiet and suggested it might be time to find some friends my own age. I told her I wasn’t into bar hopping and just where did she expect me to randomly meet women my own age?! She suggested the library. I said something to the tune of, “Oh yeah! That’s GREAT idea. I bet the library is brimming with fun 23 year olds!”

Believe it or not; my mother was right.

I was headed up the stairs when I noticed someone my own age coming down. She was wearing a Sigma Kappa jacket and she looked completely normal and fun. To put it delicately, the Sigma Kappa chapters at most Indiana schools were significantly different from Bradley’s chapter. (Not that they weren’t wonderful women and that was incredibly shallow of me, but I was 23. Cut me some slack.)

So, I took a chance and said, “Hey, are you a Sigma Kappa?”

Knowing her now, I’m surprised she didn’t retort back with, “No. I stole this jacket.”

Knowing her now, I’m surprised she was wearing an SK pull over. She’s not a pull over kind of gal. I’ve always been really thankful she was because I needed a friend and she dropped out of the sky. If it weren’t for those lavender letters I probably would have brushed by her without a second thought. It wasn’t an accident.

Before kids and her marriage we had all kinds of fun together. Brandon was traveling, so my evenings were free and lonely. We took yoga classes, went out to dinner afterwards, and occupied the leather couches at Starbucks, before they were on every corner.

We did THIS to Alex:

April tried earnestly to save me from myself and always made sure I had great haircuts and better shoes. The woman knows styling products like no other and is the closest thing to a female Tim Gunn that I know. We had a great time and then life got in the way and we got busy and lost touch.

Cue Facebook.

I was thrilled she found me. I was excited to catch up with her to see where life had taken her. She’s had a very interesting few years and has emerged a completely different person. She’s still wickedly funny, incredibly intelligent, and more stylish than ever. I’m glad to have her back.

We talked until midnight, which did nothing for my new sleep routine, but I woke up feeling just fine this morning. Completely worth it.