Freakin? Friggin? Frickin?

Yesterday I went to the mail box and there was a card for me!  You have to admit...don't you love to still get some snail mail every once in a while?  I opened the card and the front looked like this.

When I opened it, the inside said, 

"You can cope with anything if you have a FRIEND and a GOOD "F" WORD substitute"

This is SO true!  Lol.  Friends are so important.  Just this weekend I was talking to my brother-in-law about friendships and how much they mean.  I must say that I try really hard to be a good friend.  I like to do little things for my friends and I try really hard to stay in touch even with the ones I haven't seen in a while.  

The girl that sent this card is one of my sweetest friends in Tennessee.  I have actually known her for seven years but our friendship has really flourished in the past year since she quit her job and became a stay at home mom.  We were able to start spending more time together.  I also recently hired her to teach CPR and she is awesome!  I couldn't have a better person to rely on.  Kristy is a great friend, she has came over the day before a birthday party and helped me prep my house, we have made meals together, went on countless play dates with our kids, etc.  I am so glad to have her in my life.  It's really crazy that we are friends though, really I was friends with her husband first.  

I worked with her husband, Jason at the first hospital that I worked at in Tennessee.  We hit it off as friends immediately.  He was motivated, driven and I knew he was bound for success.  He also at the time had a job that made a whole lot more money than me, I was the lowly secretary...lol.  I was bored and needed more so I started taking on projects for him and going to his meetings to do grunt work like taking minutes, etc.  Any time I had free time I would try to help him and learn what he was doing.  I became an expert at v-look ups in excel and I don't think he minded having an assistant.  He soon informed me after about 5 months that he was going to go into sales and leave the hospital in about a month.  My mind was spinning.  Could I do his job?  I went in to overdrive trying to learn as much as I could during that month and he did a good job teaching me as much as he could.  As soon as he left, I put in my application.  I had only worked there for 6 months as the administrative assistant and now I was trying to be a Contract Analyst.  Let's just say that my older co-workers with more seniority were not happy about it.  It wasn't that they really wanted the job, but who was I? Some new girl from out west...the secretary!!

Well, I got that job and I loved it.  It was only because of that job that I decided to follow in Jason's footsteps and get my MBA.  I think I got the job in December and started back to college in January.  I continued to work in that type of roll for several years and then even moved on to another hospital with a similar job with more responsibility.  I owe a lot of my career to having a good mentor.  Technically Jason and I only worked together for 6 short months but we stayed in touch, got together for double dates (where I met his wife) about once a year and saw each other at professional meetings.  By the way, he went on to become a corporate director of the largest hospital in Knox county and recently won the "40 under 40" in Knoxville.

Kristy and I were phone friends.  Before I had Hudson I had a miscarriage at 10 weeks.  It was really hard on me both emotionally and physically.  Needless to say, it seemed like most of the family didn't understand and I felt alone.  Travis tried to be caring and understanding but he just didn't quite get what I was going through.  I knew that Kristy had also had a miscarriage with her first baby and then quickly became pregnant after.  It gave me hope.  I called her and talked to her and she was a good shoulder to lean on.  Once I had the kids, she was the friend I would call for advice since both of her kids are almost exactly a year older than mine.  For the past 4 years we have chatted on the phone fairly regularly and then like I said she quit her job and then our friendship was able to grow.  

Not sure why I am telling you all this history but I guess it's because both of their friendships truly changed my life and my career. I am thankful to have them both.

Kristy is so SWEET.  Have I mentioned that she is super skinny, fit and beautiful?  

I kind of hate her for that!

Her note in the card says,

"Just a little note to say that you look great...beautiful...amazing...and you have already accomplished more than most people do in their health goals.  I am going to be so jealous of your new boobs, it's going to be hard to be around you!  Keep on Keepin' On.  Love ya friend!"

How great is that?  That is a true friend for you and just what I needed.  In regards to the new boobs, I am really trying to get to my goal weight of 140 so I can fix what I have!  If you missed the post about it...here it is on the link above.  Last week we all went to Dollywood with Jason, Kristy and their kiddos.  Here is a quick pic I snapped.

I guess I will get ready for the gym now....and KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON.

Thanks Kristy!