My Other Soul Mate

Do you believe that a person can have more than one soul mate??  I do.  My second one is my best friend, Casie.  Okay, that probably sounds weird.  But seriously, I sometimes think we are the same person (except, she's much cooler than me). 

I met Casie blindly, just like I did with my husband.  My junior year of college I moved into a 4 bedroom apartment and only knew 2 of my roommates.  The 4th person, Casie, and I were the first two to move in and we were alone together for about a week until the others moved in.  One of those very first nights, we stayed up pretty late talking and getting to know each other.  I knew I was going to get along with her just fine.  I didn't know at that time that we would become such great friends. 

I also met her boyfriend (now husband) during that first week we lived together too and liked him right off the bat as well.  He became my protective "big brother" for the next 2 years...telling me it was too late to go to Wal-Mart by myself and I should just stay home..."Okay, Dad". 

I had so much fun with Casie during my last 2 years of college.  Our personalities meshed so well, it was almost scary.  We shared a lot of the same interests and never got tired of each other (at least I don't think she got tired of me).  She is/was always willing to be brutally honest with me whether I liked what she had to say or not...I'm thinking of a couple of specifics, Casie, that I don't want to post...we'll talk later ;)  Those were the best 2 years of college for me and I have so many memories with her.

I remember the night before I moved to Des Moines after graduation, I stayed up late writing her a letter telling her how much I was going to miss her.  I was crying thinking about leaving her and then her boyfriend came over and stopped in to my room and made fun of me for crying about it....it was an emotional girl thing I guess. 

Although we lived 2 hours apart after graduation, we still saw each other plenty.  We were each other's maid of honor in our weddings.  Now that we both have families, it is a lot harder to get together, but we usually find a couple of times each year to make it happen. 

So, today we met at the Amana Colonies for a much needed get together sans kiddos.  We went into all of the little shops there and she helped me spend my money on some cute things for my house (and 3 bottles of wine!).  We had a nice sit-down lunch at the Ox Yolk Inn (even though the elderly lady waiting on us wouldn't let her have fries even though the menu said she could).  Then we moved on to the Tanger Outlet shopping center.  It was here that I remembered how similar we are. 

Our daughters are just a couple months apart and in nearly every children's store we picked up or purchased the same shirts for our girls and liked the same colors of the shirts.  The scariest thing though was when we went into the chocolate shop (she wanted a caramel apple) and ordered the exact same thing without knowing it!  I knew she was going to get a caramel apple and there were so many yummy chocolate choices, but I just felt like getting a boring M&M cookie and water...so that's what I ordered.  Right after I order, Casie comes up to the register and says "just an M&M cookie and a water please".  Whoa!!  Scary!!! 

We had a lot of fun today and could have used more time -- but unfortunately we were both several hours from home and had kiddos to get back to.  I enjoyed our conversation and just being "Emily and Casie" again with no little munchkins to take care of.  We are always able to pick up where we left off as if we still see each other daily.  She is one of the only people that I actually call, rather than text (I'm horrible at making real phone calls to people-- texting has ruined communication). 

Even though I think we are the same person, she really is much cooler than me and I look up to her --- well, that's because she is like 5'11 or something.  She is the most classy farm wife I know, and funnest mom ever!!  (Spell check is telling me 'funnest' isn't a word - whatever)  Today she told me her kids get a bath every single night because they are always filfthy dirty --- that means, her kids have way more fun than mine -- I cringe when Rylee gets dirty.  I have a lot to learn from the coolest mom ever!! 

LOVE YOU CASE!!!  Thanks for making time for me in your crazy busy schedule :)

This picture is old -- I would post a picture from today, since we both looked all cute in our skirts, but I don't have one, because somebody didn't want her picture taken (she's preggo). 

Ooo..I just thought of something else crazy -- she lived 2 hours from me, but the day of my accident she happened to be in Des Moines, so she was able to get to the hospital right away --- eerie, huh!?!