Quote from Abraham Lincoln Happy birthday to my friend, Amber! You can call it your second 29th birthday all you want, but you have to tell me know how it feels to reach this landmark. (Please…tell me I’ll survive my day coming up!)
Six years ago, I quit my job and moved to Lawrence to start graduate school. I enrolled as a full-time student and a graduate teaching assistant, and it was one of the scariest things I’d ever done. Thankfully, God knew I’d need a friend and sent Amber to Lawrence at the same time. For that one semester – the five months that seemed so long, but was really such a short span of time – Amber was my bestest friend. She was the only person who knew what I was going through with teaching, with classes, with the crazy people in our program. Without her, I might not have made it.
Amber and I were so much alike that we just gelled from the beginning. I already told you that we started talking because she noticed my “hey, I’m a Christian” fish ring. So right away, we knew we had our faith in common. But we also had similar small-town roots and strong Type A personalities with perfectionist tendencies. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that one, Amber!) The best part is, though, that my friend, Amber, is funny and smart and sweet and considerate and still, even six years after I abandoned graduate school and Lawrence, one of my dearest friends.
You might want to call her Dr. Amber, though. Because unlike me, she stayed in school. And this year, she earned her Ph.D. and is now a professor at James Madison University in Virginia. I know she’s making a difference in her students’ lives, teaching them and mentoring them and encouraging them, just like she did at KU. Because she’s awesome like that.
So, happy birthday, Dr. Amber. I love you and wish you a happy, happy 29th! (That’s two “happys” for your second 29th, you know.)
Six years ago, I quit my job and moved to Lawrence to start graduate school. I enrolled as a full-time student and a graduate teaching assistant, and it was one of the scariest things I’d ever done. Thankfully, God knew I’d need a friend and sent Amber to Lawrence at the same time. For that one semester – the five months that seemed so long, but was really such a short span of time – Amber was my bestest friend. She was the only person who knew what I was going through with teaching, with classes, with the crazy people in our program. Without her, I might not have made it.
Amber and I were so much alike that we just gelled from the beginning. I already told you that we started talking because she noticed my “hey, I’m a Christian” fish ring. So right away, we knew we had our faith in common. But we also had similar small-town roots and strong Type A personalities with perfectionist tendencies. (Correct me if I’m wrong on that one, Amber!) The best part is, though, that my friend, Amber, is funny and smart and sweet and considerate and still, even six years after I abandoned graduate school and Lawrence, one of my dearest friends.
You might want to call her Dr. Amber, though. Because unlike me, she stayed in school. And this year, she earned her Ph.D. and is now a professor at James Madison University in Virginia. I know she’s making a difference in her students’ lives, teaching them and mentoring them and encouraging them, just like she did at KU. Because she’s awesome like that.
So, happy birthday, Dr. Amber. I love you and wish you a happy, happy 29th! (That’s two “happys” for your second 29th, you know.)
