...have an adventure!
It's way past time to share the story of one of my favorite friendships here...especially with how often I namedrop Hannah on the blog!
Hannah and I share a friendship that was born with the word "yes." On the first Friday we both worked at EY, one of the partners came up and offered up four dugout box tickets to that night's Twins game. My hand instantly shot up to ask for one of them, and Hannah was quick to speak up and agree to go with me. With no other takers among our start class, we invited my roommate at the time, Kathryn, and my friend Charlie from undergrad. Hannah was an absolute champ walking into a situation where the three of us knew each other really well...and I immediately knew she'd be a great work friend.
Fast forward through our first year...a year that put us through our paces and really tested both of us in ways we had not foreseen. That May, we found ourselves sitting a sidewalk table at the downtown Panera, commiserating and sharing way more honestly about the fact that we truly didn't love our jobs and were thinking about making major changes. (Last night, we agreed that day at Panera was the catalyst of our friendship, and now I'll never look at their chicken wild rice soup the same way again!)
After that, we grew closer. We talked candidly about our hopes, dreams and disillusionments, and the day she put her notice in at EY, we cried, laughed and celebrated together. Eight months later, I followed her out the door and it was then that I think our friendship truly, totally took off.
My very favorite thing about Hannah is her total and complete willingness to go along with any harebrained scheme or plan I throw out there. Some of my favorite Twin Cities adventures have been with her by my side. Just in the last year or so, we've:
...hiked around a frozen waterfall in January...
...bought last-minute tickets to "Wicked" the night before...
...gone to "Once" with my parents and craaaazy-wild fun aunt Kris, who is "FROM CANADA!"...
...attended a charity drag "beauty pageant"...
...and a burlesque fire-breathing aerial striptease show...
...road-tripped to Wisconsin at the crack of dawn to watch hot air balloons NOT take flight...
..rock'appella raged at the Pentatonix concert...
...and just last night, sat front row at the Guthrie's AMAZING production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream!"
This isn't even counting the innumerable brunches, happy hours, Rojo tequila-and-tearfests, and intense conversations about who we are and where we want our lives to go. I count myself over-the-top lucky to have a friend who's so willing to embrace adventures, and in doing so, to help me open up to a life that's more spontaneous and rich than it would be without her.
Hey Hannah, let's be friends for a long, long time. Okay? Settled.