My husband barely stopped the car as I jumped out of the it at American Airlines terminal three. I could hardly stand to surprise her by meeting her to help her with her bags. I really couldn’t stand waiting to hug her and see her for real…in real life…standing in front of me! I walked through the electric doors and scanned the baggage claim for baggage claim nine. There it was. There she was. Jeans, long hair and a cute top. Was that her? Should I sneak up behind her and squeeze her, because did I say I could hardly stand the wait. What if it wasn’t her? Also, do I really want to freak her out, the woman is going to spend four days in a hotel room with me. I walked toward her and just as I was deciding to or not to surprise her from behind I turned to the right and spied a striking red haired, caribbean sea blue eyed beauty… GEEEEEEEE! KIM! KIM! {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} {Hug} I had finally, finally after two years (or is it three…I lost count) of getting to know her, learning from her, admiring her strength and growing with her during her blog facelift journey and then texting and FaceTime friendship…my goodness I was finally meeting her!!!!
From that moment on two woman with a love for talking without waiting for a breath were each others wing woman, cheerleaders, the uhuh in each others extroverted problem solving session. Our days at BlogHer were part local foods and enjoying local beer, part attending inspiring, go for it, dream big, take big risks sessions and part napping (seriously after amazing days and night of parties parties, then talking until 1 AM…2 AM…talking until we can’t stay awake anymore it’s exhausting!)
Putting the finishing touches on my eye liner I stopped to make sure my line was smooth and a reflection caught my attention. The sparkle of my favorite sparkle top I wore. I smiled. I added the finishing touches to my eyeliner and put on my lipstick. I stepped back to take a look at myself and smiled again. I was ready for a fashion show. I sat on my bed as Kim finished blow drying her hair. This was our last night of BlogHer and still, even after all that we had done and learned together I had no idea the biggest lessons I would learn at BlogHer would come at the Fashion Show and the simplest words.
Decked out in our sparkle tops, our favorite pants and heels as high as we could stand for the night (trying to wear cute, trendy foot wear and stand all night… it hurts! Bad!) We sat four rows back, giddy about our good seats and about the fashion show. In between my spew of the random shhtuff I know (long story…I’ll explain later) about bloggers we saw, tweets, giggles, Kim’s night at the Roxbury sideways head bobs to the music playing and one of my hundreds of “You know Kim…I think I…” she leaned toward me, smiled and whispered softly looking me right in the eyes, “It’s always been there. You just believe it now.”
Days of learning to hold my head high and my shoulders back…
Days of learning (forcing myself) to make eye contact with strangers and smile…
Days of taking deep breaths and having conversations (wonderful ones…yes, another story) with strangers and not puking or dying in in nerves or failure…
Days of working on owning who I was and what made me me…
Days of talking to her non-stop (shut up! I told you I talked a lot but seriously Kim did a damn good job of keeping up… that girl can talk too!!!) being embraced for all of me…
…allowed me to finally truly love me and all the beauty I have inside.
So as I adjust to real life again and my BlogHer hangover has passed I find that ! have changed. I carry myself differently. My shoulder go back a little more when I walk, I make eye contact and smile at strangers and friends more then before, instead of shying away from conversations I jump in knowing I have something to offer and I walk a little taller.
All because a friend reminded me that “it” was always there!
OH this makes me so happy! What a wonderful trip it must have been and so great to connect with somone you have had a connection with for so long! I am so happy for you!
Leighann recently posted..She’s Back!
I love this! And she is right. It’s always been there.
Sounds like you’re trying to give me the credit, but seriously, girl…YOU did it. Every bit of it.
And adding you to my life has enriched me one hundred fold. You are a gift. You are amazing. You are my friend.
And the fact that we can almost out talk each other means it was meant to be 🙂
Love you! Miss you already!
Kimberly recently posted..Great Expectations