My friends...

have always been important to me...very important to me...and I've made a lot of them in my short 28 years on this earth. I've lived in a few different places, moved a fair number of times...and every time managed to make some great, and lasting friends. If I'm going to take the time to make a friend, I'm going to make it worth my time. Why spend time and emotion on someone who is going to fall by the wayside? I love big groups...I'm extremely at ease at parties...but my true happiness lies in the one on one time that I spend with my friends...any time...day or night...preferably with some delightful eats...or at least a glass of ice water...in a car, on a porch, at a park, up the canyon, standing in the pantry, even on the phone...some of the greatest moments of my life are found in those places.

This is dedicated to those who have been with me for the long haul...even if you've only been with me a few minutes, or months...even if its been years, and years since I've seen you...you have made me who I am...you have contributed to my outlook on life...the paradigm through which I live my life. I'm a happy person. I don't have any great claim to fame, or pictures of adorable children to post...but my friends...they are amazing...their children are gorgeous! So here's to you.

I have my elementary and junior high school friends...from whom I gleaned...unfortunately...part of my sex education...who I played soccer, and basketball with...who I toilet papered houses with...who I rode bikes to 7-11 and spent $20.00 on baseball cards, big gulps and Slurpee's with...who I swam at the community pool with...had birthday parties with...got detention with...thought I was so cool for wearing shorts in the winter with...who I explored the creek with...who I was chased down by neighborhood hoodlums with...who I went to roller skating parties and gossipped about who was skating with who and who had held hands while skating with each other...who I had my first sleep overs with...who I went to girls camp with...who taught me to love Saturday Night Live...the earlier years...who helped me shave the back of my head...who I first accidentally tried alcohol with...oops...who I went to church with...who I could have been nicer to...

I have my high school friends...from Nevada...who welcomed me with open arms...for the most part...as I had just moved across the country to a foreign land...who I learned to drive with...who I went off campus for lunch with...who I ran around the Vegas strip with...who I sat up til all hours of the morning with...who I swam at 2am with...who I made hilarious home movies with...who I went on the most creative dates with...who I ate Oreo's and salsa with...who I decorated floats for homecoming with...who I hiked Sunrise Mountain with...who I went on my first date with...who I watched more R-rated movies than I care to admit with...who I swam and played volleyball everyday one summer with...who I climbed at Spring Mountain Ranch with...who I grew my appreciation for musicals with...who I vented to about the frustrations of life with...who I shared journals with...who I roller bladed all over Green Valley with...who I played basketball with...who I went to early morning seminary with...who cried with me when my grandmother died...who I had murder mystery dinner parties with...which we wrote by ourselves...who I almost went to EFY with...who I stayed up all night to watch Heathers and two trilogies with...who changed my life forever...who allowed me to see who I was...who taught me supported me through my struggles...who came to my 16th surprise party...from Utah...who I had my first job with...who I learned to love beef jerky again with...who I discovered Top Hat Video with...who sat with me at lunch when I had once again moved in the middle of high school...who would drive around Bountiful with me at midnight...who would listen to the Spice Girls at high decibel levels while drive in the unfinished hills of Bountiful and North Salt Lake...who ditched class to talk me through my struggles...who I gained an appreciation for modern dance with...who I fell in love for the first time with...who I wrote a song and sang in front of the entire school for...who I played practical jokes on that almost stopped me from graduating...who I went on to college with...

I have my friends from SUU (and my greatest friend from the deli)...who I lived on my own with...who I pulled all nighters continually with ...who had the brilliant idea to sniff tang with...who I drove up to Cedar Breaks at midnight with...who I went snowboarding for the first...and last...time with...who I filled my Denny's intake for the rest of my life with...with whom I discovered who I could be...who I drove to Vegas with to see WWF vs. NWO wrestling with...who I mourned the loss of one of our own with...who I fell in love for the second time with...who I wrote 20 page papers with...who I cheered for my T-Birds with...who I got a bit too crazy on New Year's eve with...a couple times...who I laughed harder with...who taught me how to hug...who's wedding receptions I attended...who I remained friends with after years apart...who I ran out of gas in the Virgin River Gorge with...who I randomly drove to Mesquite with...who I almost pierced my tongue with...who I learned to slice meat with...who I ate the best sandwiches with...who I discovered the beauty that is Southern Utah with...who I bought my first car with and from...who I made out with...who I introduced to his wife...who I did Upward Bound with...who I dedicated myself to the school with...who I decorated Sharwan's statue with...who I decorated trees on campus for Christmas with...who I lived the crazy college life with...who I sat on grassy knolls mulling things over with...who I took poetry from the Poet Laureate of Utah with...who I hiked Angel's Landing with...who I shared my best and worst with...whose best and worst I shared...who I discovered my best and worst with...whose children are the apples of my eyes...who still love me today...

I have my...I don't know what to call them...friends...some of my bests...who I eat spicy Mcchicken sandwiches with...who I enjoy chocolate shakes with...you I enjoy late night conversations with...who I mix kava with...who I traveled to Hawaii with...who I attend concerts with...who I discuss music with...who I walk all over Salt Lake with...who I talk things out with...who I live a parallel life with...who I have Sunday brunch with...who I drive up canyons with...who I enjoy the view in my hammock from my back yard with...who I secretly have a crush on...who I share my deepest darkest secrets with...who I attend the temple with...who I work with...who I watch graduate...who I worked at EFY with...whose children I want to take home with me...who I take road trips to visit other friends with...who I find my greatest joys in...who I attend church with...who I laugh hysterically with...who I learn more and more who I am with...who I run with...who I cry with...who I vent about life with...who I have inappropriate conversations with...who I build my testimony with...who I get great haircuts from...who I am myself with...who I know I will always be friends with...


Thank you for being my friend.

Always,
Brooke Lee Russell