Guest Post: In The Cookie of Life, Friends Are The Chocolate Chips

Today’s my birthday — 28!!! I’m taking a break, and letting a lifelong BFF share some sweet stores & embarrassing photos of us!! There are plenty more in the scrapbook where those came from! I am so incredibly blessed to have such amazing bffs! 

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear, Corrie! Happy birthday to you!

One of our first birthday parties together!

Deidre here.

Corrie’s talked about me a bit from time to time. She mostly has mentioned me when talking about the world famous chocolate cake I’m know for, but when she asked me to write a birthday guest blog for her, I jumped at the chance. See, we have been friends since the moment I could breathe! Seriously, I’m sure she came to visit in the hospital when I was born; that is how long we have known each other, and it’s completely amazing that we are still friends! I want to write down some of the fondest memories Corrie and I have had together.

Vacation Bible School! How CUTE are we? Seriously, can there be any cuter children? We were pretty much inseparable when it came to any sort of function together; we were ALWAYS together. We went to the same church until I turned 12 so we saw each other often. We were the cutest angels ever in Christmas pageants and definitely got into trouble from time to time as well.

We were on the same Bible quizzing teams as well, and yes, Corrie was better than I was. Way better. Corrie thrives on competition, and also she was a book worm. I wasn’t. I would study what we were suppose to, but I wouldn’t memorize everything WORD PERFECT like she would. She truly has a gift for memory recall as well as self-discipline. I think she ended up placing first every single year she was in Bible quizzing. Our team was actually pretty good. One year, we went to a tournament in Chicago! We had SO MUCH FUN!!! We didn’t do too bad either. I think we would have ended up being in the final if someone wasn’t paying attention to a certain boy in the crowd *ahem*, but hey, what can we say? We were middle schoolers!

Little boy is Corrie’s little brother, Luke.

We both were home schooled as well, and we loved Field Day! Both of our families home schooled, and we lived in a town of roughly 2000 people so we pretty much were what you got when it came to home schooling. The best thing about home schooling was that you were always done with school early. Every day like clockwork, Corrie and I were able to talk on the phone a 1 p.m.; and we would talk for hours. Corrie’s chore was to wash the dishes after lunch. I’m not sure how clean the dishes got, but we sure had a blast chatting every day. Truly though, can’t you tell how great of friends we are in the above picture?

Corrie was never the outdoor type. Usually when we had play dates, we would play with our dolls. They would always be gymnasts and good ones at that. They would go away for a while, and we would cry only for them to return because they missed us too much! We often played/made our own paper dolls. Corrie would make them with no arms, big hair, and rectangle bodies. It didn’t matter what they looked like though, we had so much fun playing and making them. We both were NOT crafty kids so I am SO proud of her for how awesome her piano studio looks! Way to go, Corrie!

She even liked baking cookies back then!!!!

I was definitely the “tom boy” of the group. I loved to be outside playing basketball, baseball, whatever I could do that didn’t involve being inside! In the end, when we got a little bit older, I got Corrie into going to the pool and swimming as well as going ice skating practically every day we could. We had NO fashion sense at all. I am serious when I say this. The hat that Corrie is wearing in the picture above, I had one just like it. We wore those hats nonstop for about a year straight. Jean hats with a huge flower on it. We LOVED those things. I’m so glad we wised up!

Since we lived in a small town and mostly everyone knew who belonged to whom, our parents would let us ride bike everywhere and pretty much let us do whatever we wanted. Well, I guess Corrie would choose to roller blade more than bike. Ever since she ran into a tree while looking right at the tree, she decided biking wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. Crazy to think about how trusting our parents were, especially now that I’m a mom. Perk about living somewhere small! Corrie and I still often joke about how much more of a life we had when we were 13 than what we have now!

We both had a paper route as well and after a paper route we worked at the hospital together for a tiny bit. Those were some fun times we had together working at the hospital! I unfortunately only was able to work there for a year as when I turned 15, I ended up moving roughly 45 minutes away.

Last competition at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. Look at those awful shoes!

Now for the more sentimental memories I have with Corrie. It was tough to move. We didn’t really talk about it much. I think it was a little bit easier since my family and I switched churches when I was around 12. I honestly don’t think most of my friends knew how hard it was on me; but I think Corrie knew. I remember the night before moving day, I went over to Corrie’s house to hang out. We were going to walk over to another friend’s house because they were throwing a surprise going away party for me. I think there was a part of both of us not wanting to go and just being together, but we knew we had to go. We had a slow walk, just talking. She didn’t ask me about moving or anything that would get me to start crying. We just talked about life, piano, and yes, boys. A walk that usually took about 10 minutes or less, took a good 20 to 25. I think it was selfish on both of our parts. Knowing that things would change, perhaps not right away but they would; and they did. We still wrote often, but our phone talks had to decrease because of the long distance charge. We were definitely thankful for the internet and our many games of euchre (we are the BEST team at euchre). I still came to Wabasha every Wednesday as I still took piano lessons from my same teacher so I was able to see Corrie at least once a week, that is if I could stay in town. But things definitely changed.

I can say from experience that Corrie forgives and forgets. I believe that’s why we’re still good friends today. Sure we had our ups and downs when it came to our friendship, but I’m ever so thankful that she is so forgiving as she is. We are still BFF because I think we both see the bigger picture; we have been through too much together not to be friends. Even though I can’t be with her this year for her birthday, and believe me, I was with her on many of her birthdays, if not all of them, until age 19 (we went to one year of college together), I hope she has the best birthday in the world with her husband, Kevin, who is the most perfect person for her life. When I talked her into going onto eHarmony, it more was just for fun. I’m SO thankful how God allowed Kevin and Corrie to be together because I can honestly say, she is with the person that completes her. I couldn’t have been happier for them on their wedding day!!

With our lovable piano teachers.

Now I could go on and on and on and talk to you about all our piano duets we played together, all our little inside jokes about certain musicals, and how we both have the worst handwriting known to man, but I won’t. It’s her birthday after all, and I don’t need to embarrass her too much.

The best thing about still having Corrie as one of my best friends is I know that when I get old and senile, I’ll always remember her and our younger years and how we have been there for each other through thick and thin!

Happy birthday, Corr, AKA Porky, AKA Miss Right!

Love, Deidre, AKA Sparkle

Are you still friends with your childhood best friend? If not, I advise that you re-kindle that relationship; it’s worth it.

What is one of your favorite memories of Corrie? If you haven’t met her personally, what’s your favorite blog post?

P.S. from Corrie: I WANT A REMATCH IN HOME SCHOOL FIELD DAY! I would dominate now. And I love you.