So I married met an axe murderer a good friend.

I have a friend.

I've known her for awhile now.

But I just got to meet her 3 weeks ago.

Now, I know what you're probably thinking. Shoot, I used to think like that too.

What if she's an axe murderer?! (My hubs DID ask this.)

What if she's some crazy stalker chic?! (He asked this as well.)

What if she's really a man?! (This may have even been a question in his mind. Or Mr. Rascal Raisers.)

And before this whole bloggy thing, I probably would have had those same questions. Don't get me wrong. There are some situations where you would definitely want to be asking these questions. You still have to be very careful, protective of your family, and smart about it. But I just KNEW she wasn't all those things....cause we just "get" each other. Was she goofy like me? Yes! ...thank goodness! Crazed, psycho, stalker, I'm-gonna-tie you-up-in-the-basement, and travel-all-the-way-from-Arkansas-to-Oregon-to-do-it creep? NO.

There's several women I've come to know through this blog world. I got to meet Gretchen (precious, sweet lady!) in the flesh too...cause she lives in WA and us Pacific Northwesties gots to stick together. But I never thought I would get to meet any of the others (who, sadly, mostly live across the country) and be able to seal the friendship with a hug, a laugh, or a PDDP.

So when Amb messaged me that Mr. Rascal Raiser would be taking a little business trip to Oregon and she was hittin' the Oregon Trail with him, I was so ding dang excited I made myself a paper chain to count it down!

And you thought I was kidding....

The Day arrived. She texted me that she was almost to my house.

I was excited...and a little nervous.

I opened the door and....we hugged. (Cause she must have left her axe at home and I turned out NOT to be a 400lb man who wanted to chain her up in my basement. :))
And it felt like we had been friends forever.

And my hubby texted to make sure I wasn't dead.

And she texted her hubby to let him know I wasn't a man, that she wasn't tied up in my basement and that she didn't need his emergency code word (Sponge Bob) after all.

And we had a little coffee with our creamer.

And we ate coffee cake..which was a little dry.

And we ate carmalitas too...which is dessert, but both of us are OK with eating it for breakfast. Cause that's how we roll.

And my kids asked her a hundred questions, talked her ears off, and asked her to play with them. And the oldest one who was at school cried when he didn't get to meet her. Cause she's cool like that.

And we exchanged our gifts of bling.
And because she KNOWS me, loves me, and doesn't want to cause undo stress in my life she brought me Non-Bangle Bling.
Isn't it cute?! LOVE it!!

And we talked and talked and talked and talked and talked...about silly things and about important things.

And we laughed.

And the hubby who would just roll his eyes at it all, make fun of us for IMing for hours instead of picking up the phone and calling but then boot me out of the way to "chat" with her, came home early from work just so we could go out and have some kidless time to together.

Chipotle. Talk. Drive. Talk. Listen to Hannah Montana. Talk. Talk. Talk.

What was I talking about again???? Oh yeah...we self-diagnosed ourselves with adult onset ADD, too. (Added to our list of things in common.) Which is why it's taken me so long to put this post together, and which also explains the post itself....

Sonic. Pineapple Diet Dr. Peppers. (Cause she's the one that lured me over to the dark side.) Matchy debit cards. (Just one more way we're twinsies.)
E.Z. Orchards for apple cider donuts (I promise the fresh, hot ones are MUCH better!), lemon honey stick (Yuck!), Fartless chili, popcorn, beans (Genius.), and goofy pictures.
Outlet mall. (Cause we both like to get our shop on.) Not enough time. (We didn't eat there! Amazing, I know. But we had to preserve our stomachs for the next stop.)

And then off to meet the thoughtful husband mentioned above and Sponge Bob Hubs at The Cheesecake Factory for dinner...because apparently we both like to eat. Avoided an altercation, but received a tongue lashing from a crazed "I just spent 10x my Mercedes payment, impulse buying at the mall and my man's gonna be ticked" lady.
And we laughed. And we did NOT make fun of the waiter who talked in a disturbingly quiet voice while using smooth and dramatic hand gestures as he gave us his take on chutney. Ahem.
And we talked of things you usually don't talk about with people you've just met. (But remember we've known each other for decades. I mean years. I mean months. Days? Hours? Technicalities.)

And our day was gone. Just.like.that.

And my suspicions were confirmed. She IS just as adorable, sweet, beautiful (inside and out) and funny as she appears on her blog. We could be the best of friends. She IS a kindred spirit. And I can now move her from "friends from my screen that someday I'll meet" to "those I'm blessed to know in the flesh".

Blessed indeed.

I have a good friend.

She's not an axe murderer.

Her name is Amber.

We've met now...in the flesh.

...and now I miss her.

Anybody handing out frequent flier miles to Arkansas???



***And for a different and (most likely) wittier version go here.