Pleased to Know. (vol I)

There was a period of about 8 months where I was super angsty/depressed/unpleasant. If I had a last.fm account, my most listened to song would have been "Admit It" by Say Anything. I was tired of about 98% of the people on planet earth. I never had a teen rage-against-the-parents phase, so I guess this was my version of teenage rebellion. 
While I thought almost everyone else was being rotten (and some people really were), I was pretty rotten myself. And despite my being a terrible teen trapped in a 21 year old's body, Heavenly Father still blessed me far more than I actually deserved. That's the thing about Him, though. For every good thing you do, He tends to bless you tenfold.
So for future rotten Amy days, I have decided to document all the people/places/things that have been especially great in my life. Most of them have been a part of my life way before I needed them most.

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Emily Marie Burman is my longest friend. As in we've been friends since first grade. We went to elementary, middle, and high school together. There was rarely a week during the summers that I did not see her. She literally lived down the street and around the corner, which was at least 20 minutes closer than all my other friends. We went to 4-H Summer Adventure Series together. We volunteered at Bible day camp and the tractor pulls together. We tried on numberless prom dresses and saw countless movies together. Emily is one of the few who knows how truly great Arcola, Indiana is. She has, without a doubt, seen me at my goofiest.

In sixth grade I went through this phase where I tried to "find myself." I became friends with the "cool kids," but eventually figured out the "cool kids" treated me like crap. Even though I abandoned Emily at a time of great need (transition from elementary to middle school), she still welcomed me back. Not only that, but she invited me to hang out with all of her friends. She's always done that. In high school she found her place amongst the marching band kids, while I floated amongst the show choir/yearbook/drama/art/whoever-else-would-talk-to-me kids. When we had the same lunch, Emily always invited me to sit with the band kids. And, this is a big deal if you know anything about marching band, let me tag along to the band room after school.

Her family was also so accepting of me. Emily was a "lonely" child (as I called it until about 3rd grade when I learned it was actually "only" child). Despite being used to having a mostly quiet house, her parents let me come over and be obnoxious practically whenever I wanted. Her mom almost always made my favorite dinner, shells and cheese with homemade chocolate pudding for dessert. They also did a lot to ease the stress of my parents like picking me up/taking me to sporting events, getting me a t-shirt to tye-dye for chemistry, and sometimes taking me out to Arby's.

Do Emily and I still talk every day like we used to? No. Do I know that she'll always be there for me rain, shine, or tornado? Yes.
And that's what's really important in friendships.