Every time I drive home to Wellington I am overwhelmed with nostalgic feelings of memories from my childhood. Every house has a story to tell and every street has a memory of it’s own. As I drive into Wellington the first place I pass is my elementary school followed by the path home which once was the same path I took when I rode my bike to school with my best girl friends. I drive into my neighborhood to see Anthony’s house to my right, my childhood crush. Anthony lived next door to Krista, one of my very best friends growing up. Krista’s family was like my second family, and Krista and I followed the same journey throughout middle school, high school, then even went on to the same college. I can follow the same street around the corner to pass Katie’s house, another one of my best friends. Katie and I met in third grade when I joined the baton twirling team, and she was always one of the funniest people I have ever known. When we entered middle school Katie and Krista introduced me to Amy and we all began to ride our bikes together to middle school. Katie and I made the decision to quit baton in middle school, we were way too cool to be running around in those little leotards anymore! These girls were my best friends for most of my childhood. They had known each other since kindergarten and they were so kind as to let me join the group and later even be a part of their girl scout troop. 
That only lasted a year for me….but it was fun while it lasted. We experienced a lot together….our boy-band obsession phase, countless sleep-over parties, Halloween trick-or-treating, we choreographed some killer dances to *NSYNC and Spice Girls, boyfriends, crushes, heartbreak, bat-mitzvahs, first cars, after-school hang outs and so much more. Through high school we lost touch a little bit, but have always stayed in contact for the most part.
A few months ago, Krista got married to her wonderful husband Mac and yesterday Krista had a beautiful baby girl, Avery! I am so excited to be here for this milestone! Krista is the first one of my close childhood friends to have a baby, and it could not be more surreal! It still feels like we are babies, and way too young to have babies of our own. The scary thing is, we aren’t too young and soon enough all my friends will have babies and it will be perfectly normal! Tonight was so special because Katie, Amy and I were all at the hospital visiting Krista. I had not seen Amy and Katie in a long time, but when we were all sitting together in that hospital room I couldn’t help but reminesce about our childhood. We used to talk about the man we would marry and how many kids we wanted to have. Now not all of us have met that man or determined that number, but for Krista, that one-day we used to talk about has now turned into her today. Katie, Krista, Amy and I are all grown up and I could not be happier to still be in each others lives! I am a sucker for sentimental moments. I just love friendship, it is truly one of the most beautiful relationships we have on this earth! I treasure my friends because they mean the world to me!
I could not be happier for Krista as she embarks on her new journey as a mommy! I’m so thankful to be have been home to welcome this sweet little girl into the world with my dear friends. Krista is pioneering this whole ‘mom’ thing for us, so far so good. She had one of the easiest pregnancies and births of anyone I have known. She hasn’t scared us out of having our own one day just yet. Tonight, Katie held a baby for the first time, I think it went well for her. Congratulations Krista, we love you, you are going to be so great!
Krista, Amy, me and Katie!
