I shared earlier a little about my trip to Influence. But there is one story that needs to be told. It’s the story of Mary. No, not Mary the mother of Jesus. Though both women are special, one really holds a unique place in my heart…and it could be because she almost killed me and two other lovely ladies, ha!
This is how it all started.
The morning I left for the conference I looked like this. A ball of nerves, excitement, and totally unaware of how this trip would change my life.
I met up with Carly and Kara-Kae because we were all on the same flight. BOY was it early…and I looked SO tired, ha! We were ready to tackle the flight and get to the conference, but little did we know, we almost wouldn’t make it there.
You see, a couple of weeks before the conference a gal on Facebook offered to pick people up from the airport and take them to the hotel! This was such a big relief for Carly, Kara-Kae and I because we thought we would have to pay for a shuttle or cab…and we’re cheap, ha! This gal was Mary.
I exchanged numbers with her and as we landed in Indianapolis I called to let her know we arrived. While I had never met Mary, or really even chatted online, I thought I had a pretty good handle on what she was like.
I expected a sweet, timid, cardigan sporting, pearl wearing, prim, proper lady. Now there is nothing wrong with a lady like this….we just probably won’t become BBFs. Again, I figured we would graciously thank her after she delivered us to the airport, then awkwardly smile and nod as we passed one another at the conference.
Sad, yes.
True, yes.
So when she popped out of her mini van all UrbanOutfitters trendy and rocking some tattoos, I was taken back. It even took me a second to notice the gleamer of her nose ring.
How was I SO wrong?!
Usually, I am dead on when it comes to reading people, but this girl had me in a funk.
There was something about Mary.
“Sorry if my van smells like puke, my daughter threw up in it this morning. But I tried to clean it all up”
Yep, we were going to be fast friends.
It was like my long lost twin lived in Indiana. But she possessed 3 qualities that almost broke our friendship from the start:
*she loved to read
*she drinks hot tea instead of coffee (blasphemy)
*she was a horrible driver
Y’all, there is no exaggeration to this. Just ask the two other innocent passengers, Carly and Kara-Kae! Like seriously, this bridge is where I thought my life would end…no lie.
See…we were ALL scared! haha!
My husband even called me after I tweeted this and said,
“You tell her to be careful with my baby mama.”
Yeah, we’re cool like that.
Thankfully we DID all make it to the conference!
And clearly became best friends!
As in we’re road tripin’ to meet half way and vacay together this summer!
(totally borrowed these pics from Mary’s blog!)
I’ve gotta tell you…
There’s something about Mary.
And I LOVE it!
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There certainly is “something about Mary.” I’ve loosely known Mary and her husband, Chris for many years now. It all started with Chris back in the days of playing summer basketball at the Wanamaker Elementary baseball fields and during high school youth group with Mary at Indian Creek Christian Church (http://www.thecreek.org). Anyways, she certainly is her own character and that ain’t bad in any way. I literally laughed out loud when I read her comment about the puke in the van. Any other first-time meeting of Mary wouldn’t be the same without that type of comical relief. She and Chris are good people and I can only hope that our families might grow closer together or at least keep that “loose” connection that we’ve always had.
Glad that you two crossed paths…