My friend’s back in the Mid west

My best friend since middle school has moved back to the Mid west and I’m really excited. For the first time in about 11 years, we live just hours from each other. So, sorry if you don’t really care, but today I feel like reminiscing about my friend Chey …
Cheyenne and I met when she moved to Kendallville at about age 11. I befriended her right away because I imagined it must be hard being the new kid. We’ve been friends ever since.
We’ve gone through a lot together in the past 20 years of our friendship.
We went through the typical high school stuff — boyfriends and breakups and getting in trouble with our parents — and some not-so-typical stuff. At one point Chey dropped out of highschool, only later to go back and make straight As. And that is exactly how she is. When she goes for something, she goes for it.
Cheyenne and I would later go off to college together. Ball State. We made lists and lists and lists of the things we needed and we stockpiled it in my parent’s basement. It was so exciting. We’re both complete organizing nerds, so it was the ultimate project. And we did have the best dorm room. Everything anybody needed. And Cheyenne was always a great cook too. It seemed like everyone came around when she made a batch of her spicy chili. Our Margarita Mondays may have had something to do with that too.
We’ve gone through our bad times too though. Our good friend Laura was in a serious accident our first year of college. As Laura and another friend crossed the street leaving a party, Laura got hit by a car. She was in a coma for over a month, had brain surgery and both legs were broken, among other things. Our close-knit group of friends was never the same. Thankfully, Laura recovered and eventually moved back East. Cheyenne moved South to be near her parents and attend a Culinary Arts School.
The move put Cheyenne about 12 hours away, but we remained close. Once a year I would go down to visit. Sometimes it would be a carload of girls and sometimes I would just fly down to see her. Once we met in the middle — somewhere in Kentucky — with our boyfriends and camped for a few days.
Many years later Cheyenne followed her Culinary Arts career to a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Around the same time my boyfriend (husband now) Steve and I received job offers in California. We decided to make the move to Palm Springs. I was so happy that once again Cheyenne and I would live in the same part of the United States. Once I actually mapped it though, I realized that once again, we would be 12 hours apart. Ughh.
We remained close still though. I went to visit her and she came to California. And we have always been good about phone calls too. Unfortunately she never got in to checking e-mail or even turning on a computer. It’s her one downfall.
A few years later, my husband and I relocated to Michigan. Cheyenne was still in Albuquerque. I’ll never forget when she called to tell me she might be pregnant. For some reason, I kept thinking she wasn’t. Like I had some divine way of knowing. We just kinda talked about it like it was a possibility, but we didn’t really believe it was possible. She said she’d take a test and call me back. She called me back and said “Well, I’m pregnant.” I said “WHAT?” She said “I’m pregnant.” I said, “WHAT?” Again, she said “I’m pregnant.” And again, I said “WHAT?” At that point she said “Don’t make me say it again.”
It was in fact, a surprise, but like anything else Cheyenne went after motherhood with serious dedication. She eventually left her job to stay home with Liam, and she became very environmentally conscious — using cloth diapers and making a lot of her own baby products or using only organic. Her boyfriend, Milos, took a trucking job that put him on the road all the time. She remains tough though, even though it means shouldering so much responsibility at home.
Meanwhile, I moved to Indiana. I was really excited for her, but kinda jealous too. I had really been thinking about starting a family and I couldn’t believe Chey had beat me to it! I really, really hoped it would happen for us to.
And it did. Before we knew it, we were expecting too. And our babies ended up being only six months apart. I’ve met her little boy, Liam, a few times now. And she’s spent some time with Ella as well. And of course, we’ve had many, many phone conversations about them. It’s really cool our babies are so close in age. We would manage to stay close even if that wasn’t the case, but if she was still working and socializing all the time, we would be living in two different worlds. It would have been harder to relate I think.
Anyway, I’m so excited she’s here. A couple of hours seems like nothing after all of the trips we’ve made to see each other over the years … So, anyway, even if she won’t ever read this blog, can’t wait to see you Chey!!!!