Mug of Memories

I did something tonight I haven't done in quite a while.  I ran - outside.  I've been running off and on in the gym all summer, and I've walked a few times outside since busting my ankle, but tonight was my first outside run basically all summer.  I loved it and I hated it at the same time, which is a pretty common feeling towards running I think.  And it didn't help that for half of the trail the smell of burgers was wafting over from Cookout, and they smelled so good.  Sigh...

And I saw something tonight that was one of those reminders that there is still good in the world.  There was a dad teaching his son how to ride a two-wheeler in the parking lot.  And as the little boy wobbled and rode in a crooked line, the dad was jogging behind him, encouraging him, and glancing over his shoulder ever few seconds to look for cars.   It was quaint and serene and it made my heart happy.

Blue skies, green grass, and slight hills = good running terrain.

                    
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And tonight is going to be my last Mug Monday post, at least for the time being, cause I'm out of mugs.  I can't believe I've been blogging about mugs since January!  I decided a while ago though that I wanted to make this mug the last, because it has some of the most sentimental value, and out of all of my mugs, I've had it the longest.  This was a high school graduation gift from my friend Sophie, and she gave one to everyone in our tight group of friends.  I feel that most people lose touch with their hometown high school friends after a few years, but that has not been the case for me.  I have been so blessed to have been able to maintain really close friendships with my high school friends, my oldest friends are definitely my best.

And as for the specific girls on this mug, we all went to church together, most since early elementary school, we also all graduated in 2005, and I went to the same high school as all of them except Emily, Stephanie, and Nini.  And even though after graduation we went to different schools and now live in several different states, I love all these girls dearly and thank God for them!

From left to right...

Nini - She was a foreign exchange student from Germany that year, and quickly became a part of our group.  Her and Sophie have remained close and I think she's getting ready to start Med. School.

Ashley - We've been friends since she was 4 and I was 5.  One of my first memories of us was at he Cowboys and Indians themed birthday party.  She calls me Aimee Jane and I call her Ashley Sue.  We have about a billion jokes and stories and traditions.  She went to JMU and now she's an RN in the Surgical/Trauma ICU at a hospital in Lynchburg.  And I was in her wedding in March.

Emily - She moved to Lynchburg at the beginning of high school, but sometimes we forgot that because we all felt like she'd been in our original posse forever.  She went to Liberty where she played soccer.  Now her and her hubby Derek live in Winchester, Virginia where she teaches science and coaches soccer at a Christian school.

Sophie - I remember the very first thing she ever said to me.  We were sitting next to each other in Sunday School and even though I didn't know her, she asked me if I wanted a sticker.  She then preceded to take off her (thick, pink) glasses and peel off a little pink heart sticker she had stuck in the corner of the lenses and give it to me.  We've been friends ever since (and that explains the pink heart under my name on the mug).   She was voted most likely to succeed and she is well on her way.  She went to Campbell University for Pharm School and is now beginning rotations in Utah.

 

Stephanie - Funny thing about us, we had an inside joke about bananas, so one of us gave the other a banana for either a birthday or Christmas.  Then whoever had it first stuck it in the freezer and then gave it back for the next occasion.  We passed around the same banana for years, and when we finally did get rid of it, it was shriveled and brown.  Stephanie went to Liberty where she studied lots of different things, and she has done lots of different things in lots of different places.  She just recently moved to Columbia, South Carolina and is working for US Airways.

Jillian - One time in middle school I was spending the night and we caught a bunch of frogs out of her yard.  We had the brilliant idea of keeping them in the bathtub over night.  When we got up the next morning and went to get them they were all gone.  They had jumped out.  And we never found them...  Jillian went to Columbia International University, and after she graduated she married her man Paul and they lived in Minnesota for a while.  They're back in Lyncburg now and in May she had the first baby of the group, Declan.  I haven't met him yet, but he's absolutely adorable in all the pictures I've seen. 

Me- Well, you know me...

Becky - Becky moved to Lynchburg in third grade and we were in Ms. Caldwell's class together.  I remember lots of spring and summer nights playing flashlight tag all over her neighborhood with lots of friends.  Becky is also a crazy runner person.  I mean crazy.  Like super mega marathons where she runs 50 miles at one time!  After she graduated from Liberty she married Sean who is in the Navy and they live in South Carolina.  She's also super smart and teaches math and does other stuff with numbers.

So there you have it!  Some of my favorite people in the world...on a mug!