Trisha
It’s funny how things work out.
I had a block with writing for over a month and wasn’t even sure I wanted to share about this trip.
I knew I wanted to, but I also had a lot of critical thoughts about doing it and almost decided against it.
Thank goodness I didn’t listen to the negative self talk, because we would have missed out on some of the best parts of the trip…
Like I mentioned in DC, where we met up with dear friends from Nashville on The Mall because they saw we were in town too from my post
Turns out another friend saw my post and reached out…and this one was such a sweet surprise.
If you’ve met Trisha, you love her.
It’s impossible to not.
Trisha was one of my closest friends when I lived in North Carolina.
In fact, I moved in with her while dating Justin and lived with her until the day we moved to Nashville to get married.
Trisha had a front row seat to our whole relationship and I vividly remember the many nights standing in her doorway, leaning against the frame, listening to her day, sharing whatever was going on, getting sage advice, or squealing with glee at being in love.
I remember sitting on her bed the night before flying to Nashville for Christmas in 2009 and her asking, “Do you think he’s going to propose?!?!”
What?!?! Is that even an option?
Justin and I were in graduate school and broke. There’s no way he could propose. But now that thought was in my head and I was hoping he would but trying to keep my expectations in check.
Let’s just say she was the first person outside of family that I called when he proposed in the most spectacular way.
Justin and I adore Trisha and she called the day after I posted to say she would drive anywhere to meet us when we were driving through Pennsylvania.
So we one upped her and asked her to stay with us in Hershey…in our camper…
And she did!!!
We got two nights with her and her beautiful mini-me daughter.
Her and her daughter drove 5 hours and pulled up to the campground at the same time we did.
Our hearts about burst.
It had been 6 years since seeing each other and it was like old times, except less cussing because, you know, 5 kiddos...
But seeing Trisha brought back all the joy and good times had with her.
I think both Justin’s face and mine hurt from smiling so much. She just makes us happy and my goodness was it amazing to get a hug from her. And amazing to meet her daughter and see the mom she is and the beautiful daughter she’s raising.
Gosh it was good.
The best part?
Seeing my kids and her daughter get along like they’ve always known one another.
I loved seeing my kids with Trisha, thinking they don’t realize how much this woman was a part of them becoming a reality.
That sounds weird, I know, but if you knew how many ledges she talked me off of.
On my own, I would have sabotaged the relationship with Justin.
It’s not that I wanted to, I just didn’t know how not to.
It’s easier to play the victim and force rejection than to be honest and vulnerable and risk rejection.
But Trisha…Trisha helped in ways only I will understand.
She brought out a lightness and joy that I struggled to find sometimes, a feminine side that I liked to keep hidden, and an optimism when I thought things were over.
When I was overwhelmed between the last semester of grad school, a part time job, and planning a wedding, she was there to offer support and a break from it all (typically in frozen yogurt form).
Trisha and I are not the same people we were 15+ years ago, but seeing her reminds me that those girls will always be within arms reach.
We’ve grown and matured. Life has come at us, but we’ve thrived. And now we are raising some incredible kids.
Neither of us would have seen that coming! We’d have thought you were crazy to give either of us the responsibility of raising kiddos! But here we are doing a pretty darn good job of it.
I just love seeing her period. And Justin does too.
She brings out the funniest side of him and he lights up around her. It’s fun to see him belly laugh and let any guard down, not that he really has any.
Friendships like this are truly gifts.
And we are hoping it is not another 6 years until we see each other again and are trying to strong arm her into coming to Nashville on her next road trip…
But back to this trip…
After all the hugs, swimming (just ‘til 7!), and catching up, we had to get down to brass tacts and make some game plans for the big day…Hershey Park!
