Happy Birthday to my beautiful friend, Annie!! Just as your mom said in her letter, it is hard to think of you as 28 years old! However, I know we would still be great friends struggling daily to get through life! You wouldn’t look any older.. you would still look youthful and full of life. I have no doubt of that.
There isn’t ONE day I don’t think of you. I have that picture by Greg Olsen called, Heavenly Hands in my house. How can I look at that and not think that you are still right with me? I also still have the Small Miracles book you gave me sitting under my bed with your handwriting that says, “I’ll never forget you.” Gives me chills every time I see it! When your mom asked to write A memory.. I couldn’t even just think of ONE. We have so many special memories that I have replayed in my head time and time again. How I wish I could revisit them and have you here.. I run into Keri all the time and every single time I see her, I automatically see you and it takes me a minute to focus and get back in reality. So much has come and gone since you left us.. so many things have changed. Good and bad. Sometimes I think how lucky you are and other times I think how unfair it is that you haven’t been able to experience more to your adult life.
You brought a lot of excitement to my life. We definitely knew how to “raise hell” When I was too “down” to go do anything, you brought the party to me. We had the type of friendship that was unconditional. We went through a lot together. When Zack passed away… I remember driving for hours and hours and hours all over the Salt Lake Valley while you cried and listened to music (Boyz II Men). I also remember when Curtis passed away, you immediately showed up at my work and we did the same thing. We experienced a lot of pain and heartache together.. I never thought I would have to go through it again without you, because of you. I remember doing school projects in your basement listening to Spice Girls.. we knew every song on that album! Ha. We also went and bought Lenny Kravitz and we didn’t have enough money to buy it each ourselves, so we decided to buy all the cd’s we wanted together and just share them since we were together all the time. I think you had Lenny Kravitz when you left us and I never got it back!! Remember when we were going out with the older boys and you were walking to the car and your heel broke off of your shoe?? Ha ha. I’ll never forget when I “ran away” from home and came to live with you. I didn’t have a car, so we shared yours and I had to take you to work (Pagers Plus) and I didn’t know how to drive stick shift yet! I was a mess… and that lasted only like 4 days. And I can’t ever go to the store and buy the Extra peppermint gum without thinking of you… you never left home without 10 packages of that at least! And how can we ever forget about the “slept overs” ? Even you Linda… you know all about our slept overs!
I love you so much and miss you. It never changes no matter how many days, months, years go by. You have left a huge print in my heart and soul that can never be replaced or filled!
You will always be considered my best friend. I CANNOT wait for the day to see your happy smiling face again, giving me a HUGE hug like you always did!
Always and Forever,
As you would refer to me… “Manty”
Mandy Alvey Martin
There isn’t ONE day I don’t think of you. I have that picture by Greg Olsen called, Heavenly Hands in my house. How can I look at that and not think that you are still right with me? I also still have the Small Miracles book you gave me sitting under my bed with your handwriting that says, “I’ll never forget you.” Gives me chills every time I see it! When your mom asked to write A memory.. I couldn’t even just think of ONE. We have so many special memories that I have replayed in my head time and time again. How I wish I could revisit them and have you here.. I run into Keri all the time and every single time I see her, I automatically see you and it takes me a minute to focus and get back in reality. So much has come and gone since you left us.. so many things have changed. Good and bad. Sometimes I think how lucky you are and other times I think how unfair it is that you haven’t been able to experience more to your adult life.
You brought a lot of excitement to my life. We definitely knew how to “raise hell” When I was too “down” to go do anything, you brought the party to me. We had the type of friendship that was unconditional. We went through a lot together. When Zack passed away… I remember driving for hours and hours and hours all over the Salt Lake Valley while you cried and listened to music (Boyz II Men). I also remember when Curtis passed away, you immediately showed up at my work and we did the same thing. We experienced a lot of pain and heartache together.. I never thought I would have to go through it again without you, because of you. I remember doing school projects in your basement listening to Spice Girls.. we knew every song on that album! Ha. We also went and bought Lenny Kravitz and we didn’t have enough money to buy it each ourselves, so we decided to buy all the cd’s we wanted together and just share them since we were together all the time. I think you had Lenny Kravitz when you left us and I never got it back!! Remember when we were going out with the older boys and you were walking to the car and your heel broke off of your shoe?? Ha ha. I’ll never forget when I “ran away” from home and came to live with you. I didn’t have a car, so we shared yours and I had to take you to work (Pagers Plus) and I didn’t know how to drive stick shift yet! I was a mess… and that lasted only like 4 days. And I can’t ever go to the store and buy the Extra peppermint gum without thinking of you… you never left home without 10 packages of that at least! And how can we ever forget about the “slept overs” ? Even you Linda… you know all about our slept overs!
I love you so much and miss you. It never changes no matter how many days, months, years go by. You have left a huge print in my heart and soul that can never be replaced or filled!
You will always be considered my best friend. I CANNOT wait for the day to see your happy smiling face again, giving me a HUGE hug like you always did!
Always and Forever,
As you would refer to me… “Manty”
Mandy Alvey Martin
5 comments:
Wow Mandy.. thank you so much for sharing that with us! That is so special. I had a really good friend pass and I think of him all of the time! His birthday just passed in Oct.
That was so great to read. You seem like such an amazing person! I don't really know you too well but that was a beautiful story!!
Mandy that was beautiful! Annie was the life wherever she went. That picture is so breathtaking, how luck to have it in your home!
Mandy,
Thanks for that..it was beautiful! We too have that picture in our house, as I remember the first time I saw it in Oregon, and almost dropped to the floor because of how much it reminded me of Annie and that I could picture her with the little children in heaven.
You two had quite the friendship, and I am grateful I still have some minor contact with the few of you that can remind me of her and the good ol' days.
You are an amazing person, that was written from the heart and so beautiful.
I think of her so much as well. I think of our drives, our late nights, her MESSY room, her little notes, her borrowing my clothes and NEVER giving them back, making cookies singing Madonna, her showing up to my house with her entire wardrobe, makeup collection, and like five curling irons just to get ready to go out... We all had so much fun. Please tell Linda that they all are and always will be in my heart....
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