Hey Soul Sister

WARNING: The following blog post will be really long. That is all.

So, first I'd like to say that I hate that song... the "Hey Soul Sister" one. But it fits for this blog entry.

Now that that's out of the way...

So I have always been a very shy person... how I ever made any friends at all baffles me, but I made some good lifelong ones in elementary, middle, high school, and college that have changed my life. This story is about a series of strange coincidences leading up to a friendship that changed my life in the best ways possible.

I have always been a musical person, and always loved to sing. I was always in choir, but I was always too shy to sing in front of people. One day in 6th grade my music teacher did a test where we all had to sing a song in private with her and she gave us a grade on it. I was incredibly nervous, I have never sung in front of anyone by myself before. So I did it and sang for her and she sent me back to class. A little while later she contacted my parents and said that she wanted to nominate me to attend some conference choir in Cleveland, Ohio that was I believe through MKMEA, which is the Midwest Kodaly Music Educators of America? Maybe that's what it was called? It was 11 years ago people. Anyway, the people from this organization send me a tape (yes, a tape) of a woman singing these songs, and then the sheet music to all of them with my part highlighted. Over the summer I was supposed to memorize these songs by myself and then attend a conference in September and perform them with a full choir, with only one day to practice together. I hesitated, but I practiced almost every day, because I loved singing so much.

Finally it came time to actually attend the conference. My parents paid the couple hundred dollars or whatever it was to go, and I started to feel sick. I kept telling my Mom I didn't want to go, I wasn't going to know anybody, I would be one of the only people from Wisconsin there, only 2 other people from Wisconsin had been selected to go. I finally talked my parents into letting me bring my cousin Jasmine along so I would have someone there that I knew, and we left to make the long drive to Cleveland.

The closer we got to Cleveland the sicker I felt. I hated meeting new people... I was terrible at making friends, and what if they made me sing in front of other people? We finally got to the hotel in downtown Cleveland, which was very tall and scared me a lot (this was the end of September, 2001). We parked in the parking garage and carried all of our stuff to the elevator leading us to the hotel lobby. The doors started closing when we heard "Wait!" and we saw a family rushing towards the elevator towards us. It was a Mom and Dad who looked to be close to my parents age, and a young blonde girl who looked to be close to my age. In the elevator our parents got to talking and we found out that they were from Wisconsin too... one of the other 2 people invited to go! I remember being shy around this girl, but our parents kept jabbering away talking about where we were all from and introducing us all to each other. We checked in to our room and eventually I had to go down to the first meeting with the full choir, by myself. No Jasmine there to comfort me. I went down to the crowded room, where groups of kids were huddled together, some joking around and laughing, and others singing their parts to our songs. It was a mixture of boys and girls. Finally I found the girl I met in the elevator, and she refreshed me on her name (I'm terrible with names) Jamie. We started talking and learning things about each other. I learned that she had a brother and a sister, but they didn't come with to Cleveland, she learned that I was an only child. I learned that she was from a small town in Wisconsin called Lomira, and she learned that I was from Appleton, which were only about an hour drive away from each other. I found her very easy to talk to for someone I just met (not sure if she thought the same about me... I probably didn't say too much), and immediately became proud of myself. I made a new friend! The group finally got together and we ended up doing some song exercises and stuff to get to know each other, the whole time Jamie and I stuck together.

I'm really bad at remembering the timeline of everything that happened that weekend, but I don't really remember what else we did the first night there. The second day we were there, we made plans with Jamie's family to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. The whole time we were at dinner Jamie, Jasmine and myself kept goofing off and joking around with things. Like we knew each other the whole time. I remember we kept putting packets of sugar in our Coca-Cola, because we wanted to be more hyper.

I also remember at one point going to the hotel gift shop and all buying matching necklaces, which I still have :).

That night we roamed the hallways of the hotel causing trouble. At one point asking a group of guys for change so we could all buy sodas.

We then had our concert, which was incredibly beautiful, and I didn't even have to sing in front of anybody by myself. It was in a huge cathedral, probably one of the biggest ones I have ever been in, and we rocked it. That night they had a celebratory dinner for the singers and their families. My family and Jamie's family got a table together and we accidentally set a basket of napkins on fire (kind of a big fire) and caused a big scene. Jamie and I were jumping up in the air screaming, while Jamie's mom tried putting it out.... they came around and took everybody's table candle away after that.

After our fun-filled weekend was over, we said a sad goodbye to each other and our families parted ways. Before leaving the city, we decided we had to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which was amazing. On our way out of the Hall of Fame, who do we run into? But Jamie and her family! We said one more sad goodbye and parted ways once more.

We were then driving for a couple of hours and were getting close to being back in Wisconsin... I think we might have been in Illinois. We decided to stop at a rest station, and who do we meet inside? Jamie and her family! Again!!! We decide then that our friendship is meant to be, and AGAIN... say one more goodbye before parting ways. A while later on the road, who do we pass on the Highway? JAMIE AND HER FAMILY!!! Seriously, it was getting creepy.

After we got home our lives went on as normal, except Jamie and I started writing letters to each other, and then she invited me to her Birthday party!

Jasmine (left) Jamie (right)

Top row: Jasmine, Me, Kelly, Kimmy, Katie (Jamie's sister), Lori, Jake, Kayla
Bottom row: Robert, Jamie, David, Tim (Jamie's brother)

After that, Jamie and I were constantly making our parents drive us to and from each other's houses. We ended up establishing an American Girl store in Oshkosh as "the meeting point" and always met there. Our friendship just grew and grew...

Jamie and my friend Cassie at my house

Me and Jamie

Me at one of Jamie's plays

Me and Jamie and her dog Ike

Jamie and I dancing

Katie (Jamie's sister), Me, and Jamie

Osama's Mamas

Jamie and I singing Karaoke (I guess I finally got over my fear of singing in front of people!)

Me, Jamie, and Cassie

It was amazing how much meeting Jamie has changed my life. I was suddenly a part of her family, and she was a part of mine. We stopped calling each other 'best friends' and started calling each other 'soul sisters' instead. Because that's what we are, we are sisters that found each other because our teachers decided to send us to some choir conference that I can't even remember the name of. We never got in a fight, she has never said anything cruel or hurtful to me, nor would she. I have never done this to her. I've always been bad at expressing my feelings and my emotions, so she may not realize how much she means to me and how much she has changed me for the better. Each of us has gone through our own obstacles and troubles, but we have gone through a lot together too. Helping each other through break ups, deaths of people in our lives,  school, college, family issues... and eventually... baby issues! :)

When Jamie called me to tell me that her and her fiance Travis were going to have a baby, I cried! (Not a big surprise there... I cry for everything. I get teary-eyed when I have to say goodbye to Jamie. I cried when she graduated high school for crying out loud.) I was so scared, and happy, and excited for her! When baby Amelia came into the world I saw a whole other side of my friend... a mother!

And I got to be Auntie Toni :)

Now, both of us are with wonderful, amazing guys (who get along just as well with each other, as Jamie and I do). Travis and Dan are hilarious, and when the 4 of us (5 including miss Amelia!) get together, I laugh so hard I either pee my pants or throw up.

Not really, I don't do either, that's gross. But I do cry.

Dan, Travis, Me, Jamie and baby Amelia, right after she was born.

Being an only child, I never really understood the closeness between two sisters, or two siblings. Thanks to Jamie, I do understand. While she does have a sister and brother of her own (who I love both to death) I will still always think of my time spent with Jamie as that sisterly experience I never got to have. 

Jamie and I with some friends and the band Lucy's Revenge

At one of our favorite restaurants

Me, Travis, Jamie, Amelia and Katie on another one of Jamie's birthdays!

So I guess I just wanted to say, thank you Jamie, for being there for me, for helping me through all the rough times, for being just the incredibly fun, caring, and loving person that you are. I don't know what I would do without you, and I sure don't ever plan on finding out.

I love you soul sister!