Thanks Alison

ALISON!!!!

    Yelling your name just always feels right. Just thinking about hanging out with you makes me happy and excited. You have this amazing quality about you where you are so full of joy and happiness and anyone within your vicinity can't help but feel the same. Thank you for filling my life with more joy and happiness! Thank you for being an amazing example of what a friend should be like even in our teen years. We were all so focused on ourselves, but you were always completely aware of everyone else and taking care of everyone else. Thank you for laughing with me. Thank you for helping me to laugh at myself. Thank you for being genuinely interested in what was going on with me, even when what was going on with you was much harder.
   Thank you for all our silly shenanigans. Thank you for being the voice of reason. Thank you for buying ugly Goodwill dresses with me and then wearing them in public with me. Thank you for always being willing to drive us around in your boat of a car. Thank you for being a great teammate. Thank you for always being able to say what I wanted to say about what I was thinking or how I was feeling way better than I could. Thank you for loving traditions as much as me. Remember our post-football game tradition? I only remembered just the other day when Tyler and I were driving passed the football field. We would go to Walmart and get some Ben and Jerry's pints and some plastic spoons and then wait on the hood of our cars at the high school parking lot for the boys to come out and we would hopefully cheer them up because they lost like all their games. And I guarantee that idea was alllll YOU. And we always did that, even when it was FREEZING. Thank you for letting me be your date to your senior Prom. We had a blast! Thank you for all the phone calls my freshman year of college. Thank you for the packages you sent me. I still have the bracelet you sent me from Mexico.
   Thank you for offering to drive out to Utah when I got married. I know you totally would have done it, too. Thank you for coming to my Iowa reception and offering up the idea that we should all hang out afterwards. I wanted you and Tyler to hit it off so badly and you made it easy. Like usual! Thank you for making time to see me every time I've been able to visit Iowa. Thank you for thinking my kids are adorable. Thank you for all the amazing voicemails you've left me over the years. They are long. They usually involve singing a Queen song. And I love every second of them.
  Thank you for inviting me to your Bridal Shower and your wedding! You were beautiful and it was fun! Thank you for thinking of me amidst all the craziness of wedding planning.
  Alison, you have touched my life in so many ways. Without you, high school wouldn't have been nearly as pleasant. You helped me to know that I can be myself and not worry about what others may think or say, because it doesn't matter. And you were so supportive of me and my beliefs. In fact, I'm pretty sure that if I had tried to drink some alcohol you would have slapped it out of my hands and sent me home. I adore you and all the memories we made. I feel so blessed to be able to call you a friend. I love you, Alison!