Salute to Barry and Jessica

I suppose you could say that I have my Mother to thank for our friendship.

I was in the 4th grade when Jessica and her family moved to my hometown, and ended up in my church one Sunday night. My sister and I always had slumber parties at our house... especially for our birthdays.  We were in the middle of planning one of those slumber parties, when my Mom said to me
"Why don't you invite the new girl to your party?"

I'm sure at the mature age of 9, I responded with something like,
"Uh, really?  That's kinda weird... I don't even know her"
But my Mother, in all of her wisdom, insisted.
And from there came a friendship that sculpted and shaped my childhood.

Jessica and I were the best of friends, and the worst of friends.  We hung out all the time... laughed at anything and everything.... and fought with each other at the drop of a hat.  We creatively named our fights, World Wars.
I think by the time we graduated high school, we had gone through 20 something World Wars.

Yes, our friendship was epic.

It's been years since we've hung out together.  Time and distance will do that to a friendship, but we've never lost touch... Especially thanks to the wonderful world of facebook.
Last weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Jess and her family back in our hometown....

Where it all began.

Her husband, Barry, serves in the National Guard, and will be deployed soon.
It was an honor to photograph a solider and his family, and my friend.

Thank you for the good times... the laughs... the memories.  I love you, my friend!