we discovered dinosaurs.

there was something on my mind this week, and only one person who would understand.

the funniest person in the world.

i e-mailed him partly because i really needed some insight, and partly because i knew he'd make my mind explode with hilarious comments.

what i did not expect was a complete lift of my spirit. not because he's a jerk or something. i knew he'd be helpful with insight and humor. but he told me he consistently prays about the thing that was bothering me this week, and i had no idea he does that. we don't even talk that much anymore. what a blessing real friendship is!

i have a lot of wonderful friends, near and far. but ford gets the "friend of the week" award. which includes an entire blog post about him. and...that's actually it.

we've known each other since elementary school, in a way. i remember his mom threw us some killer class parties, with ice cream sundaes. i remember i won the class spelling bee in 4th grade, but victory was stolen from me by ford in 5th grade. i don't remember if he won, i just remember he correctly spelled the word that stumped me. ("i misspelled, in front of the entire school, the word 'failure.'" - dwight schrute).

we didn't spend a lot of time together in middle school and high school, even though he was always around. but when i moved to college we started talking a lot for some reason, and he's helped me through a number of life problems. like when i found a bug with a lot of legs in my dorm room, he encouraged me not to sleep in the hallway because of fear. while mercilessly mocking me.

when he and his girlfriend get married, they're going to name their first daughter after me. at least, i figure he'll eventually give in to my requests to do so.

anyway...

thankful for friends! they all walk through life with me in different ways, and carry my burdens.

that picture is us re-digging a hole that we used to dig every day in elementary school. every day. it would eventually get too deep and the teachers would fill it back in, but we'd just get right back to work the next day. i'm not sure what we were trying to accomplish.

when i was in college, i made an entire section of my website funny quotes from our long-distance conversations. i still have the link, but you can't handle it. we were young. immature. but here are a few that won't disturb anyone too much:

EmperorFord: you tried to kill your fish?
bruinmusicgirl: they were a nuisance
EmperorFord: but starvation?
bruinmusicgirl: better than the toilet.
EmperorFord: did you print Arbeit Macht Frei on the glass?
bruinmusicgirl: i dont get your educated jokes
EmperorFord: it's what they had written on the gates above Aushwitz
EmperorFord: it was a concentration camp joke
bruinmusicgirl: good one

EmperorFord: my goal is to make you just see the word "HATE" in big red letters every time you close your eyes

EmperorFord: hello
bruinmusicgirl: hey whats up
EmperorFord: reading about some supernova they just spotted and having an existential crisis

bruinmusicgirl: i would like to see the diary of anne frank as a movie
EmperorFord: they made it into a movie
EmperorFord: the end is so sad
bruinmusicgirl: dont tell me how it ends
EmperorFord: because it turns out that darth vader wasn't irredeemable, and he throws hitler into the reactor core, but then dies from his wounds

EmperorFord: you are so overbearing
bruinmusicgirl: i know.
EmperorFord: i was joking!!
bruinmusicgirl: i know.
EmperorFord: i know.