North Carolina!!!

This time tomorrow, Lord willing, I should be making my final descent into Raleigh/Durham. With great excitement and anticipation I will hurry off the plane as quickly as I can, find my way to the nearest exit, find my most wonderful friend Anna and give her the biggest hug she has ever had!

Some people might look at my friendship with Anna and wonder how I could love her so much when we haven't been around each other that much. But some people are just like that. And Anna is one of those people. I couldn't help but love her.

Anna and I met at camp. We're nearly nine years apart in age. Our first year at camp together in 2006, she was the youngest member on staff at age 17. I was one of the oldest at age 26. As two of the ten girls at a boy's camp, of course we were thrown together all the time. It helped that we were "sweethearts" of the same tribe. Somehow, in a mere nine weeks, we just connected. The following summer we had nine more weeks together. And I came to love Anna more and more.

What do I love most about Anna? What you see is what you get. She's friendly, and bubbly, and loves life, and makes friends with everyone, and takes teasing well, and just makes life fun. All the things I'm not by nature. So while she once told me she wishes she was more like me, I would love to be more like her. Together, I guess, we make a pretty good team.

Anna and I have had tons of fun together. Lots of laughter, lots of serious talks, and hours of fun acting nuts on the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the other hand, we have also shed tears together. For when her father was killed in an accident two years ago in May, I sat in my hotel room at a writer's conference and sobbed. On Saturday, I will give her the hug I wanted to give her that day.

A visit to Anna is long overdue. And it won't be nearly long enough. Only four days. But we plan to pack a lot into them: hiking, horseback riding, long walks in the woods, evenings by the fire, being spoiled with good home cooking by her mom, and...well, probably very little sleep! It's going to be a great long weekend.