Today I am thankful for... #3

This is my 3rd post listing a friend in my life that I am grateful for. I will continue to do posts periodically thanking the many special friends that God has blessed me with. As I said before, this is in no particular order at all... I love all of my friends and family SO much and I don't want anyone to think that you are not special to me! 🙏

Today I am thankful for... Lindsay!

Lindsay and I back in high school

Lindsay may be the friend that I have known the longest. When I came to Warwick in 8th grade, they had everyone divided up into 3 teams- A, B and C. Within each team, you were assigned a section for all of your regular classes and a section for all of your specials. I still remember that we were on the B team in section 8-7 together. We had a pretty entertaining group of kids in our classes and I remember having a lot of fun. Lindsay lived in the neighborhood right next to mine so I was over at her house a lot. We used to cut through the woods to go back and forth to each other's house, but one day as we were walking to the big log that we needed to cross, we came across a GIGANTIC spider smack in the middle of the log... like this thing was huge and we both ran back to her house and I called my dad and made him come get me. I don't think we ever cut through the woods again after that 😂🕷

Over the years, Lindsay has always been a good friend. We had some moments where we weren't always as close - I didn't like one of her boyfriends early in high school and then later she didn't like one of mine- but she has always been someone I have been able to trust and talk to about anything. I also totally approve of her husband - her high school sweetheart, Ryan. Lindsay and Ryan both like to golf, so if I ever get the chance to, I like to get out to play with either of them. That has become more difficult over the years as their family has grown, so if we can't golf, I often go to their house and get to spend time with the kids too.

One story that always makes us laugh is when we were in middle school at Lindsay's house. For some reason, we always watched scary movies, which we both HATE now, and we watched them in her basement. Like a lot of basements, her basement was scary. It opened out to the aforementioned woods where the gigantic spider lived and there were french doors and windows everywhere. I still don't know why we decided to watch scary movies in the basement in the dark near the woods, but one day we were walking back upstairs all freaked out after watching some movie and all of a sudden everything goes black and all of the lights go out. We both had the EXACT same reaction which was to duck down and start screaming at the top of our lungs (as if that would have saved us in a dangerous situation). After a few seconds, the lights come back on and we hear her dad laughing at the top of the steps and we felt really dumb for freaking out. I seriously think we permanently changed movie genres after that.

In more recent years, the main thing that sticks out in my mind is when Lindsay dropped everything and came to be with me when she found out about my dad. (I should say here that I'm sure most of my friends would have done the same and I am grateful for everyone's support). She heard pretty quickly what happened since a good friend of hers is also friends with my parents next door neighbor. When she heard, her mom came to stay with her 2 daughters and she came over to my parents house to be there with me. My mom didn't want to be alone at the house that night, so she insisted that I stay there with her, even though I really didn't want to since every memory I have in that house reminds me of dad. Lindsay offered to stay there with me and she drove me home to my house so that I could get clothes, stopped at Roma Pizza (an Oehme favorite) and then came back with me to my mom's and stayed the night with me.

Since I didn't know if I'd be staying at my mom's for more than one night, she also took a house key and checked in on Martin and Beamer if I wasn't home. A few days later, since her husband worked not too far from my house, she had him stop in after work one day to see how I was. He came in to return my house key and asked if I had been eating. He then ran to one of my favorite restaurants (which was close to home for him), got me dinner and brought it back here to me. These are just a few of the MANY acts of kindness that people showed me during that time and I will be eternally grateful for the love and support.

I finally want to say that Lindsay has been so very helpful in planning the golf tournament and helping the day of. Thank you, Lindsay (and Ryan, Addy, Brinley and little Henry) for your friendship! 🙏

Is there someone that you are grateful for today? Tell them that! Maybe a nice message from you about how much you appreciate them is just what they need to brighten their day. 😊❤🌹

8th Grade Physics Day. Those braces 😁😂