Aubrie is a super special little girl to me and her two week birthday is today!  Her mommy, Amber, was one of my childhood best friends.  Though life always tries to pull you away from those people from your early years, Amber and I always continue to cross paths one way or another. The memories we have together are truly countless, starting all the way back to Ms. Hardin’s kindergarten class where we met for the first time.  There are very few memories I have from my school days, starting at 5 all the way through high school that don’t include Amber in one way or another. Some are great, most are hysterical, and many, let’s just say, are forgettable … I think we would both agree that we know things about each other that are less than our best moments in life :). And, well, I’ll just leave it at that!

Walking into the delivery room a few weeks ago, I must admit, I was a little nervous. Its an overwhelming feeling to see someone whom you haven’t walked beside in the past few years laying there in a bed about to go through what you know is going to be a life changing experience.  I got to meet Aaron, her awesome husband for the first time in person, and reconnect with her family on such a  monumental occasion.  While I knew I was just there to document this amazing day for her and her family, who has meant so much to me in my life, I couldn’t help but be caught up in every single tiny detail as if it were my best friend in the world whom I had never lost touch with about to have a baby!  And, honestly, that is how it felt and what being there meant to me personally.

What I realized is that there is something so raw, so authentic about knowing a person for so many years that you simply cannot replace with brand new relationships, no matter how hard you try.  Sometimes it feels uncomfortable for someone to know so very much about you … where you’ve come from, where you’ve been, but there is also something so comforting knowing that this person, despite your many flaws, sees that you are just more of the person that you were always intended to be.  There she was, my best friend in kindergarten and again in 7th grade (every other day at least), and again the summer before our Sophomore year, Amber “Boswell” Johanning, just as vibrant and beautiful and full of life as ever!  All I know is that Miss Aubrie is one blessed little girl to have the one person I always wanted to sit by in the lunch room as her mommy 😉

I cannot express what getting to be there that night meant to me. Thank you so much for your friendship all these years … no matter what life throws our way you will always have a huge fan in me!

Miss Aubrie wasn’t really ready to come out and play, so she was taken via Cesarian … here is her beautiful birth story 🙂 Is she not the most beautiful newborn ever?!