My Treasured friend

Yeah...that's Laura and me in matching jackets on one of our infamous BHS choir trips.... we made sure we wore our jackets so the high school kids would roll their eyes at us.... we never cared.
We love each other like sisters.  She really "gets" me.
Laura is one of my besties and I truly TREASURE her.

We have been friends for 21 years and have gone through thick and thin and thick together. ( Although I know we were friends in Heaven too) Life is definitely a roller coaster and we have ridden it together either screaming, crying or laughing all the way.    Laura keeps me centered.  She is a great sounding board and has a lot  to share.  Laura is an amazing listener and secret keeper. She is loyal, warm and giving! She has wit and wisdom.  She's been tested and has a strong testimony.  She is fun and faithful.
I have a few favorite memories of this awesome lady.....

 I remember going to Yellowstone with her, Emilee and Tru.  Emilee and Tru thought it would be fun to pretend we were visitors from England as we toured the different sites around Yellowstone.  As we were putting on our best british accents discussing the falls and the beautiful colors and asking where the Loo was, all Laura could say was, "I want a banana."  That's the only thing that would sound even slightly british coming out of her mouth.  We couldn't stop laughing.  When some tourist asked where we were from, we all said, Manchester, or Liverpool...trying to keep up the facade... Laura said, "oh forget it we're from Utah!" Then we all laughed hysterically and ran to our car.

I remember Laura racing us all ( Me, Wayne, Eric, Bob and Kimi) out of the Silk Market in Beijing, China because she just had a squatter catastrophe and was so embarrassed.. we laughed and we keft as quickly as possible.

I remember this same, broken Laura after her head on collison with a  motorcycle while riding a scooter in China. She was such a sport, and was in so much delirious pain.  We sang hymns and any other song we could come up with as we drove an hour and a half to the Guilin airport in our toaster-shaped rickety van.

I remember Girl's camps where we would put each other in time out. And Girl's camps where she flashed the  other leaders.  And Girl's camps where we always had more fun than any of the girls.

We have shared a lot of songs.  Any song she starts, I join in and vice versa. At the solar eclipse a few years back we serenaded the park with Johnny Cash's "Burning ring of Fire" just because we couldn't stop ourselves.

I remember singing with her,  Billy Joel's  Piano Man at the top of our lungs in an Italian Restaurant in Canada.  We had most of the  restaurant singing with us,  and then the whole restuarant burst  out in clapping when it was all over.  It was thrilling....like in a movie.

I remember late night talks and tear filled walks....and singing in hospital waiting rooms.

It's Laura's birthday today!!!
I just want her to know how much I love her and look forward to many more  lunches, vacations, talks, laughs, crazy antics, songs and twin jacket days to come.

This is the Angel painting I did for her