a post for post

Today is Alisa's birthday, in Scotland... They're a few hours ahead, so I'm posting this now so she'll get to see it on her Birthday. That was a bit confusing. Her birthday is on July 31 (just like Harry Potter! And a few other friends of mine: Happy Birthday to you, Natalie, Kris, and Ashley!)

She and I are best friends, and have been for over 10 years now. It's a wondrous thing. For her birthday, I'm doing what I did a month ago for my sister, but since Alisa's only turning 27, I'm only writing 27 memories. Happy Birthday Holdwine! We are still just as awesome and nerdy as ever. Many of these won't make sense unless you were a part of the infamous Post & B, which none of you were. They're still funny. 

1. I was nervous about going to a new school half-way through my sophomore year. My first class was English. The teacher welcomed me, and said, "Why don't you go sit by Alisa, she's new too!" Thank you for that, Ms. Adams. We seriously became friends right at that moment, I think. 

2. I loved discovering that we both had chemistry next, and realized that we could walk with each other, and sit with each other in that class too. I still remember that day so clearly. I was soooo grateful that you were there in the same boat as me. 

3. Since the chemistry classroom was so close to the english one, and we had a whole seven minutes or something to get to class, we started taking these awesome detours… which happened to go past the two boys we had crushes on at the time. I still remember which boys they were, too! I wonder if they ever caught on...

4. Then there was that joyous day when we went to look at our scores on the computer in english. My name was at the top of the list. I had like 103%. Ms. Adams couldn't find you on the list below, and then, she realized that she had to scroll up to find you. I think you had like 110%. I did beat you in chemistry though… I think we were both over 100% again, but I was at 118%. Utah school… so weird to me. 

5. I was pretty much an introvert (hanging out with friends didn't really ever cross my mind), but you pulled me out of my books and projects to the weekly football games at the beginning of our junior year. We'd always stop at the mall first, and then we'd go to Highland and talk about how grateful we were that we didn't do pep club. We were varsity! (ram sign).

6. Then there were the rugby games the following spring… We like rugby, we really do, but let's be honest, those rugby boys were more fun to watch than anything going on in game itself. I will never forget riding down to Murray in ol' Garth, and bundling up in blankets in those stands. 

7. I have so many funny memories of our Junior year humanities class. I don't even know which one to share.. maybe how the teacher would slip into a funny Irish accent when discussing gaelic art, or the orc masks we made when we were studying cultural masks. We were awesome. 

8. Senior year was the best, and it was the peak of our awesome silliness. This is about the time we started working on our silly faces. I have a ridiculous amount of pictures of us looking absolutely horrible. We got frighteningly good at it. 

9. Madrigals. Enough said. 

10. No, wait, more must be said: Sectional Harassment. 

11. We loved Lord of the Rings with all of our hearts. We still do, I think. There about a million memories connected with it, but I'll just share a few and call it one. I remember watching the extended edition of Return of the King in your basement, like three inches from the screen, and being in love with Pippin and Merry, and planning a trip to New Zealand, and dressing up for the midnight show of Return of the King after a full day of the first two extended editions, and crying when it ended. I remember spirit week at highland, and being the elf-cheerleaders, since the theme was Lord of the Rings, and then the next Halloween when we won the University of Utah Institute costume contest, with me as Gollum, and you as Frodo/Sam… Fram. The prize was $10 at Wendy's to split. We got caesar side salads and frostys. Or how about the time you came into my English class at BYU, interrupted the class saying that there was a family emergency and I needed to leave, only to tell me on the way out that Andy Serkis was downtown doing a book signing, and that we needed to go. I will always love you for that. He loved my pictures of me dressed as Gollum - one of my very favorite moments. And then there were all the trivia questions, and quotes, and emails, and just everything else. What a great thing to be obsessed with. It was so fun. It's time to get back into it, now that the Hobbit's being made! (Who am I kidding… we never really got out of it).

12. There was this day when we were decorating Highland for something… maybe spirit week? and we wrote this incredible song about ourselves. It was loosely based on Rosencrantz and Gildenstern… "we sometimes get confused; who's who?" It was a good song, and I wish we still had it. 

13. I loved our tradition of sledding on New Year's Eve after midnight. My favorite time was when there was no snow, but we still snuck into the golf course and went grass-sledding. "Aerodynamics!"

14. Remember how you named your car Pippin? I still think of the Lion King soundtrack and Billy Joel when I think of that car. and singing with our brush-mice.

15. I honestly don't even remember what this was at, but the seniors were supposed to do a musical number or something and they didnt have anyone. Shameless as we were, we volunteered. It was right after a choir performance, and we were still all dressed up, but we did a full lip-sync improv dance number to Beauty and the Beast. I think someone filmed it, but I've never seen the footage. (I want to see it so bad!) Everyone loved it, and we got them all laughing so hard. I loved that we worked so well together on the spot like that! And how you took on the roll of Belle, and I was the Beast. Priceless. 

16. Upsilon - our attempt at the sorority life… which was basically glorified young women's. It was okay while it lasted, but let's just say, I'm glad it didn't last.  

17. Best Buddies! Oh, the fun we had! Thank you for getting me involved in that, and for appointing me president after your time in office came to a close. Remember Snape? You know what I mean… haha. 

18. I loved that we both had bikes and would go on bike rides all the time together. You were always so intense, with your spandex shorts, mountain bike, and water bottles… I was always so dainty, with my beach cruiser and big sunglasses. We have our differences, but that's okay. 

19. Remember that one Halloween at Paige's house, when we carved that giant pumpkin, and then proceeded to carry it up to the top of the H-Rock (no easy task) and then we pushed it off? The sound it made as it broke apart and trickled down the mountainside in tiny pieces was magical. Remember how we also threw that traffic come off the H-rock? And that dummy we made that looked like Christopher? Oh my… that whole video was amazing. 

20. When all our guys friends left on missions (a lame time, indeed) we set out to fill their missions with adventure, through us. We made two editions of "The Adventure of Post & B" and mailed out a whole bunch of copies. We were so kind. The first one was about the Bog (which reminds me of you working at the dry cleaner, and seeing people trying them out on their bums, and the hours-long phone calls we would have, and how when you'd set the phone down to talk to a customer, I'd scream at the top of my lungs or sing super loud and make them wonder.) The second was about how academic we had become in college. 

21. I loved in Peoa for a short time. remember that movie we made in the wilderness up there? I'd like to watch that footage again. And remember how I was so good at the Swedish accent? 

22. Kid Theodore. Oh, the memories. The dance we made at Cole's house, when we were there alone to "Piazza New York Catcher" and the movies in the lawn, the shows, the silly games, and the camping trip. There are a million memories in that era, too. 

23. When you decided to go on a mission, we realized that it might be the end of our friendship as we knew it (we were right). We figured, marriage, school, jobs, etc, would come between us, and so we decided to goon one last great adventure. We planned and paid for our trip, and chose, of all destinations, Los Angeles. Just days before we left, you got your mission call… to Los Angeles. 

24. You went to the MTC, and while you were there I got my mission call… to Los Angeles. You didn't even believe me, and made me send you a copy of my call. That was fantastic. 

25. It's a good thing we took that trip, because just a few days after I got home from my mission, you packed up and went to Scotland to be a nanny. You came home nearly engaged, and I got to see you only twice before I left for Jerusalem. I got home from Jerusalem just in time for your wedding reception, after which you packed up and left for Scotland again. I loved being there that night with you when you were packing up to leave, and I loved being there while you were getting ready for the reception. 

26. I went to Egypt a couple years later, and stopped off in Scotland for a week on my way home. It was so fun to see you in your new home, and to experience Scotland with you, even thought you were super sick with your first pregnancy. My favorite moment was when we sat and talked on the bonnie bonnie banks of Loch Lommond (and we sang the song, of course… we're always singing - remember the disney songs?!).

27. Last summer, you were able to make it out to Utah, and luckily you were there when I got married. I loved having you there, but dang, you made me cry a lot. I don't have any good pictures of us from that day, because I was crying whenever I saw you. You mean that much to me! You're the best friend a person could ask for. I hope you live to be 100, because I need more space to write memories… there are so so many!!! I didn't even get to the eclair cake, or when your dad took us camping, or that St. Patty's day in your basement, or the Burns Supper, or Trogdor, and the loft in my backyard that we made into strongbadia, tire and all. So much more. 

I hope you have a great birthday, and that you pretend I'm there taking you out for a treat. Much love to you!!!

Your besty,

B

*To see some great pictures of our many adventures (they really are great) see here and then here.