A voice of reason

This morning I was almost late to class because I had to finish reading my friend Hannah's latest post on Literally Darling. It seems to be a fairly popular blog so I feel quite honored to know one of its writers. As I was reading this morning, and as I've read her stories in the past, I reflected on how Hannah and I became friends.

It somehow happened on Twitter. I'm not even sure exactly how we got to talking but we did. I was starting my sophomore year; Hannah was starting her senior year. The first time we met in person was in front of Sugar and Spice in the Cougareat. And we had an awesome lunch. We talked missionary friends, Harry Potter, roommates, dating lives and I'm pretty sure about faith/belief. It was the first of many lunch dates.

Then Hannah graduated from BYU and went off to Maryland and Washington DC, which is basically where all of her wildest dreams came true. At least, that's how I tell the story to my friends when I'm explaining who Hannah is. (It's an exaggeration of sorts but also totally true.) She started working at a really neat place. She reconnected with her childhood sweetheart and soon after they got engaged. They're happily married and go to bed early and do things like watch The West Wing/Friday Night Lights/The Wire instead of going out on weekends.

I was lucky enough to have a friend who knew Hannah's (now) husband so I got the chance to road trip with him, his girlfriend at the time and two of his roommates to her wedding reception. Here's 1, 2, 3, 4 posts about that trip.) It was a blast, the road trip and the reception. I probably talked to Hannah for all of three minutes that day but it was just amazing to be there. We met on Twitter and suddenly I was celebrating her marriage. My favorite part of that night, besides the delicious food of which I ate so much, was Hannah's wedding toast. She posted it on her blog about a month after the wedding and hasn't posted anything since. I loved hearing that story then and I love reading it now. It's just so Hannah.

The point to this whole post is just to say that some times you have friends who you don't get to spend nearly enough time with in person but who still affect your life in profound ways. Hannah was an incredible voice of reason while my boys were serving missions. That's probably her biggest claim to fame in my life thus far. Talking with her about that time was amazing. Now that my boys have been back a while and Hannah lives on the east coast and I'm still in Provo, we still find plenty to talk about though. The last time we actually saw each other, I'm pretty sure, was at her wedding.

Our conversations aren't usually very long and they happen almost exclusively over Twitter, email, text messages and the occasional Snapchat. I send her pictures of the mountains and LaVell Edwards Stadium and she can hardly handle it. These conversations almost exclusively include me saying, "I MISS YOU," and her replying, "I MISS YOU TOO. MOVE TO DC." She's ready and willing to jump back into my life whenever I need her to, armed with the advice only a BYU graduate and Harry Potter junkie could provide. She usually articulates quite eloquent responses to my queries and worries, yet still ending with phrases like, "Whatevs. I say go for it." She is nothing but encouraging on every front. I'm pretty sure she believes in my ability to get married soon more than I do.

Everyone reading this is probably wondering why I didn't write Hannah a personal email saying all of this stuff. And I'm not sure why I didn't. As I hurried to campus this morning, I just knew it had to be blogged. I like to think that everyone has a friend like Hannah in their lives. Or I at least hope that everyone has a friend like Hannah. Because people certainly deserve that kind of friend.

So thank you, Hannah, for being perhaps my most hilarious, kind and encouraging voice of reason.