buddys

This would be best friend Ryan and me singing and jammin' in her basement. Ryan and I go way back. We've been friends since I was in the third grade. By July of this year we will have been friends for 13 years. Her parents are my God Parents (I was baptised a little late in my life) so I often refer to her as my God Sister. It's closer to the truth to say that she is my sister except we have no blood relation. But that's no matter. I am one of the few people in this world who has been lucky enough to find a soul mate in a friend (If I am REALLY lucky, I'll have found 2 soul mates in my life by the time I am married! Pretty cool, eh?). We more often than not know what the other is thinking without so much as a word, just by looking at each other. I couldn't love her more if she actually were my sister.

I have a lot of pictures I need to scan. This is the only picture I have on my computer of this boy. That would be Cornel, another friend of mine that I grew up with. He and I have been friends for about eleven years. We have had many troubled times but we've always found our friendship again eventually and everytime it's a little stronger. He can be a pain in the butt sometimes with his constant "brotherly love" but what can I say, we seem to have an unbreakable bond. And let me tell you it's been tested severely! I love the kid to death and I am glad our friendship has made it through so much for this long.

This is Vlad. He lives in Romania and, believe it or not, he is in his mid-20's. He and I met and became very good friends during Thanksgiving 2000 when he and his Uncle's family from Chicago came to my home for our traditional feast. We stayed up talking nearly every night about life, religion, health, psycology, philosophy, you name it. During that week, we bonded faster than I have ever bonded with anyone in my life. He regerded me as a younger female version of himself with as much to learn as he did when he was my age. I believe that he is wise beyond his years and I have much to learn from him. He's back home in Romania now but I know we'll see each other again in the future. We still talk accaisionally on the phone and when we do it always ends up for hours. He always gives me an endless amount to think about myself and about people and life in general. Every conversation we've had has left me enlightened and pondering.

This fun picture was taken the day before Thanksgiving of 2000. That would be Lisa using my face as a painter's canvas; that's chocolate by the way. Don't worry, I got her good just before this picture was taken. Anyway, Lisa is a sweet heart of a girl. She's Vlad's cousin and I have known her since she was a "this high" (meaning little). I rarely get to see her and everytime I do I could swear she grows a foot. She, Vlad and I spent a lot time together during their stay and we all had a blast. Next to our improvised face painting, we did a lot of dancing and more goofing around, too. It was a fun filled week with a surprise around every corner.

This is Vlad and his famous video camera. We rarely saw him without it. He wanted to capture every moment here in the States on video so he could go home and show his family his adventures.