Hello everyone!  This is Ayrie's friend Mel.  She asked me to write an entry for you guys so I thought I would tell you a little about our friendship.  Please forgive me because I tend to be long winded.  Also I will try not to be cheesy but for some reason I feel like I'm giving a testimony at an AA meeting. (Hello, my name’s Mel and I am a chronic friend...)

Okay back to Ayrie.  To be completely honest with you I can not remember how we met or what happened to make us such good friends.  I only remember us being friends.  Saying before Ayrie is like saying before high school or before the accident.  It just happened and that was that.  My first real memories of Ayrie were when we went to Wxml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comashington D. C.  Ayrie, Fionnah, another girl who shall remain nameless for fear of bring up bad old memories, and I all shared a room together.  Ayrie and I shared a bus seat I think.  We slept most of the way because we were driving at night.  Somehow we survived the trip full of seat kicking, snoring, food fights, and three AM serenades by geeking baritone players.  (Ayrie, you know who I'm talking about "You, You got what I need...)  Ayrie, Fionnah, and I were inseparable the entire trip.  Of course this upset Nameless but I'm not real sure why?  I think it had something to do with another baritone player (Far less geeky that the rest) that she assumed one or all of us had stolen from her claw like grasp.

After that you can forget about seeing one without the other.  Of course we only shared one class together and that was band and of course none of us played the same instrument so we never got to talk to each other.  So we talked constantly on the phone, three-way was our best friend. (Six-way if boys were involved) Of course this bothered the parental units because the lines were always busy.  So we had to become a little more creative.  This is where the notebook became involved.  None of us had very good luck at hiding notes from the teachers so we took turns buy notebooks to write notes to each other in.  We would write the note then pass it to the first one we saw in the hall on the way to the next class.  Most of these notes involved boys or more accurately...THEM.  (I would love to elaborate on them for you but those of you who know who THEY are understand that it is completely impossible)  Let me just say that to the minds of 3 hormonally gifted teenage girls THEY were the supreme beings.  I had Spanish with one of THEM.  He sat behind me and bugged the crap out of me, but of course it was one of THEM so I loved every minute of it.  THEY also attended my church so I always got to see THEM one extra day over Ayrie and Fionnah.  I don't think they were jealous that I was so lucky but I could be wrong.  Spanish THEM somehow or other introduced me to the other THEM and that became Ayrie's passion.  My THEM was a player.  Ayrie's THEM was studious.  I can't remember if Fionnah really liked THEM or just made fun of Ayrie and me because we liked THEM.  It was probably a little of both.

Okay let us fast forward a little.  As everyone knows, the mall is the average hang out for all teenagers at some point in their lives.  In walk the Farmer and the Mormon.  These two guys somehow weaseled there ways into our lives and burroughed under our skin.  Farmer and Mormon were best friends at a rival high school.  I started dating Farmer and Ayrie started dating Mormon.  Dating was questionable because the only one that had a car was Farmer so usually there were three or more of us out at a time.  Then Farmer had to be let go. This was for obvious reasons because be the Hip chic that I was and still am I had no room for Farmer.  (That was a joke the truth is that Farmer turned out to be to big a jerk for me to deal with anymore)  At the same time Ayrie and Mormon broke up and Mormon and I started dating.  Ayrie and I talked about this some years later and she said it didn't bother her.  I felt guilty for a while afterward but she reassured me that it was okay.  I think that Brad had snuck in to the fold a little bit.  All three of us had guys that we didn't share with the others.  Which was good because it gave us more to talk about and helped us further annoy the parental units.

Then I moved away.  We would all keep in touch through phone calls and letters.  Mostly letters.  We even made a few cassette tapes.  (I still have all of the ones Ayrie and Fionnah sent me and listen to them periodically to get a good laugh) I made a few trips to visit in college and Ayrie came down to visit me.  I remember the time Leroy and I went to see Ayrie and we had to pretend we were married because she had a nosey landlady that didn't like overnight visited that were not married.  We had a great time but that was the first time I met Ayrie's then Heartthrob.  She was very upset at him because he acted like a jerk.  I don't understand why he was acting that way unless he was trying to impress Leroy but Leroy couldn't really care what Heartthrob did.  Ayrie was a really great host.  Even though Leroy and I are not together anymore we still remember that trip as one of the best we ever had together.  I think Leroy secretly had a crush on Ayrie because when she came to visit me he tried to kiss her in the airport.

I was surprised when Ayrie asked me to be her maid of honor when she and Tristian tied the knot.  I just figured she would have asked Varuka.  But she didn't and I was very happy to do the honor for her.  She and Tristian have come down to visit me in Little Rock and they got to meet Emilio.  She listen to me complain alot and gripe and cry about Emilio.  Not that he is a bad guy in anyway just that he is so very different from other guys I dated, especially Leroy who I thought I was going to marry.  So we really are more like sisters than friends because we are always there for each other.

Now Ayrie is much more Jesus oriented since high school.  I am very happy that she has found herself in God's kingdom and I am also happy that she found someone like Tristian that feels similar.  I know that her times periodically get tough with Tristian but you have to expect that from younger guys.  I think that is Emilio's problem sometimes too.  Anyway I pray that I will be able to be as happy in life when I get married.  I forgot where I was going with this but I remembered now.  Ayrie has found Jesus.  Great I'm happy for her.  However I still remember the Ayrie from high school and it tickles me sometimes how she hasn't changed like some people do when they find God.  I am glad too because even though I believe in God and all of his goodness I don't like it when people "find God".  Sometimes people should think about that phrase.  God never needed to be found you only had to realize that He was always with you.  Ayrie is the best example of that.  She has God in her life and just made some adjustments to better please Him in her life.  But I bet every once in a while she thinks of THEM and sighs just like I do.