Please to Know (vol III).

Sarah Schrader is one of the world's greatest human beings. This is not even close to an exaggeration. She is happy and fun and energetic, but most of all she is compassionate. At a time when I was really sad and felt like I had no friends, she befriended me. I'm pretty sure that if she wouldn't have become my friend, I wouldn't have finished college. For real. Sarah's cheerfulness is pretty contagious.

I can't even count how many Dominos cheese pizzas we ordered to the photo lab, or how many times she insisted on paying. There are quite a few days of work that I would have had troubles getting through if I didn't have her to complain to about film superiority complexes, photo babies who didn't take notes, and annoying co-workers. Without Sarah, I would have died putting up my BFA show. She insisted on helping me hang since Jeff was out of town. She didn't even know I was pregnant and constantly feeling like I was gonna puke. She's just a nice person. She even texted everyone she knew who knew me and told them to come to my opening because she knew how nervous I was that no one would show up. When Jeff was gone, she invited me to hang out with her and her roommates so I wouldn't feel so alone. She talked me through quite the emotional pregnancy hormone and stress induced finals mental breakdown.

Sarah is such a passionate person and it shows in her photography. But she isn't the type to get a superiority complex or belittle you when you genuinely ask for her help or opinion. She is always, always pushing herself creatively. Which kind of makes her stand out from the rest of the photo program at our college which is mostly technically driven. She will do awesome things.

If you get the chance to become friends with Sarah and don't take it, you are basically an idiot. Seriously. She is happy and fun and totally worth your time. And she makes you feel happy and fun and worth someone's time.

Pleased to Know. (vol II)

Whitty Woo and I first met when we were in 4th grade at a church dinner for the newly formed Columbia City Branch (a branch is a small congregation of the Mormon church). Our friendship formed fast. Partly because we were both fun girls and partly because there weren't a lot of other kids at church.

Even though Whitley and I lived a half hour apart, we did so many things together in middle school and high school. We camped in her backyard, played tennis but lost all the tennis balls, talked about boys for hours, went to church youth activities, watched Disney Channel Original Movies, etc. Whitley always did everything first, though. She went to a church dance first. She went on a date first. She kissed a boy first. She applied to college first. She got married first. She had a baby first. Basically, Whitley was my example. And luckily she was a good one.
One Sunday, my sister and I ended up having to sit by ourselves at church. We weren't expecting it to be just us two, so I'm sure 15 year old Amy and 9 year old Kristen looked a little timid walking up to the front of the chapel where the only seats were available. Whitley almost immediately came up and sat right by us. I'm pretty sure I was fighting back tears of gratitude then, and I know I'm doing it right now.

Whitley's whole family was like that to me. They all treated me like one of sisters. Whitley has three older sisters and I always looked up to all of them. They get their goodness from their parents. Carlene and Ross are great people, and I was so blessed to have that whole family be a part of my life in high school. Even now they are still excited for me when they find out things like I'm moving back to Indiana and having a baby.

Whitley and the rest of the Stallers cannot be beat.
I cannot even begin to say how grateful I am for all of them.

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.