My Friend Allie

Do you ever come across someone who is so larger than life in personality that you just want to be their friend so you can ride along on their "coat tails" of life so to speak?
Ya know, just so you can be a part of the adventure?

Well, that's how I feel about my friend Allie.

Let me take you back to the first day we met.

A very long, long time ago... I would say around 23 years to be exact(I am SO old) I met my treasured friend Allie. I started going to a church in Carson City called the Vineyard. I'm not exactly sure how I ended up going there, but there I was. At a new church. No friends. No familiar faces. And We were meeting in this warehouse, office type building(which was a step up from the tents we soon would be meeting in) and it was also quite the change from my Catholic days of big, beautiful church buildings, where no one spoke to each other, before or afterward. You got in. You got out.
Very anti-social. Church was not about meeting friends. It was a much more reverent event back in those days.

Honestly, that's not entirely true. But it sounds good doesn't it? And don't forget my theme word here on my blog is hyperbole.

So there I was standing in the back of this new church talking to this lady named Judy, who was so friendly it was almost frightening, but not, because she was just so fun to listen to and she asked so many questions. She was talking about this girl named Allie that I should meet and in walked this shorter than me, bigger hair than me, naturally curlier hair than me(I was a tad jealous of that since I used to pay the big bucks for my curls)little bit of thing with a great big smile.

We became kindred spirits right from the start for many, many, many reasons.

It's funny how a friendship starts. There are of course many books, quotes, and poems about friendship, but this is one I think best describes ours at that moment in time;

"Friendship is born at the moment when 1 person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one" C.S. Lewis

We had so much common ground to walk upon, and that is where it all began. We learned that,
We both loved babies and children. I would call what we had a baby romance for sure. But that wasn't all that caused our instant friendship. We both talked really loud. Laughed really loud. She burped really loud. We kind of both Lived Out Loud. Her laugh of course was louder, and world re-noun... she was after all nick-named Gunner Allie for a reason. We blamed this loud tone on the fact that our parents came from the east coast, but really I don't think we can blame either Vinnie, or Ellen for our loud factor. She at the time played the Saxophone, and I sang. She could talk like she was from the east coast,(for that we can give the credit to Vinnie and Ellen) and so could I. She was so funny. She burped really loud. She loved Jesus, so did I. Instant friendship. Did, I mention she burped really loud?

We were like:
Laverne and Shirley.
Lucille Ball and Ethel.
Thelma and Louise.

There are so many memories that I could share about my friendship with Allie, so many in fact that I think I am going to start a series called, My Adventures with Allie.
I do this, if for nothing else, but to lure her back to reading my blog, and also hopefully to inspire her to write as well. That girl has got some stories she needs to share with the world.

So this is my intro, to Allie, stay-tuned for more Adventures with Allie.

P.S. The picture above from Left to Right, Judy(who I mentioned in the story)Allie, Sista Jen, Jentry, and Me. This is my beloved Birthday Club. More stories to come about all of these girls.