Maria is officially old today.

Maria Stewart turned 25 today. Although, she's probably been telling people she's 25 for the past 5 or 6 months now. She likes to round up. Each year she shares her birthday with her husband, Chad, who turned 27 today. So maybe it's Chad who's sharing his birthday since his came first. In any case, as of this year, not only does she share this day with Chad, but now her oldest sister, Shani, will have her wedding anniversary on this day from here on out.

Let me tell you a little story about how I came to dedicate an entire blog about this girl...

Maria & I have been friends since the summer of our senior year of high school, right after graduation (we went to different schools). We knew of each other for many years prior to that though, thanks to Davey Brickman. Maria loathed me & I was indifferent toward her up until that fateful week of church camp. We rode in separate vans the whole way to Centrifuge at North Greenville College & Maria trash-talked me the entire trip. Then she decided the only way she was going to like me is if she forced herself to love me & asked me to room with her. At first I told her no, but eventually she won me over. The first couple of days were really awkward & we didn't talk much. Then one night, we ended up staying awake nearly all night talking about Davey Brickman (he was my best friend at the time & Maria was his on-again-off-again flame - apparently this is part of the reason she hated me). Who knew there was enough to be said regarding Dave that would necessitate an entire night of conversation?

Later that summer Maria moved into my parents house & I shared my bedroom with her (we even had bunkbeds at one point!) for 2 1/2 years. Most of the time it was great, but at others, not so much. As is the case for any 2 people sharing one room every single day for 2 1/2 years. She became my best friend & a sister to me.

Then she & Chad started dating in December '02 & shortly thereafter moved out & got married. During this time we stopped talking to each other. I'm still, to this day, not completely sure why we grew apart. Fortunately, this didn't last long & we got over whatever it was that came between us.

Now we live 3000 miles apart as Jason & I moved to SoCal for his PhD program. We still talk quite frequently. I'd say, about once a week. I think I talk to her more often than my entire family combined - that's a whole freakin' lot of people. If you've ever read Maria's blog or either of our myspace comments, you would know we tell one another that we miss the other all the time. Maria says we're totally gay. I'm okay with that. So Maria, if you read this blog, Happy 25th & I miss you.