Sadly, many of my friends who I've met after college have not had the pleasure of meeting my best friend Christine. So to give a little history on our relationship - Christine and I met when we were in middle school. Even though we went to different schools (Salem vs. Lord Botetourt) we became quick friends made possible by the Edgewood Christian Church Youth Group. At the time we met our youth director was Warren Whitaker. Our youth group was so much fun, we always had tons of events - which was great for me because I grew up right across the street from the church. When we weren't hanging out at church we were busy getting into trouble either at my parents house or the Herndon household with either my sister Lauren or Christine's siblings Christopher and Crystal. Christine's parents have owned and run a pet store for as long as I can remember and so she always had cute little puppies they would "parent" until they were old enough to be sold - so I always enjoyed visiting. Christine is a year older than me, so when she graduated high school and chose to stay in town to attend Roanoke College I was thrilled to say the least. This may have even had some influence on my early decision to attend Roanoke also. But after her first year at Roanoke College she felt she might find a better fit at a larger school and transferred to Radford. Which, was still ok, because Radford was only a short 40 minute commute. Over the next few years we stayed in touch, sometimes better than others. Christine, who was working part time as a server at O'Charley's was offered a position in management, and decided to put her schoolwork on hold temporarily. And as luck would have it eventually got me a job with O'Charley's shortly thereafter. I worked at O'Charley's (and for those of you who don't know me - I usually worked more than 1 part time job at a time) for the rest of my time while attending Roanoke, and then used that to my advantage to move to Fredericksburg, VA after graduating from Roanoke in 2004. Fredericksburg was opening a brand new O'Charley's - how convenient - as that is where my boyfriend was living at the time. So I moved in May of 2004 but visited Roanoke often (like in June 04 for Christine's wedding). This made it even harder for Christine and I to see eachother, no more spur of the moment trips or lunch/dinner dates. It was hard, but we made it work. Shortly thereafter Christine made one of the smartest decisions - which was to go back to school. For those of you that have worked in the Restaurant industry, you can understand that it's something that can become burdensome, the late nights, the always changing and demanding schedules, etc. But Christine made it work, juggling school and parttime employment at O'Charley's. Whew - this blog is turning into a novel - but I promise I'm almost done... I'm so proud of Christine. Throughout our friendship she has been such an important part of my life. She is always there when I need someone to talk to, a shoulder to cry on, someone to cheer me up. I wasn't able to attend - but Christine graduated from Radford University in May of 2008 and is now an English teacher with Roanoke County. I'm sure her students, friends and family appreciate and love her as much as I do. So I speak for all of us when I say Happy Birthday Christine.
I hope we celebrate many more together!!!
On a side note - Christine and her husband Travis just bought and moved into the house next door to my parents (where I grew up). So now everytime Mike and I travel back to Salem we'll get to spend time together. Both Travis, Christine, Princess Fiona and Fancy Pants
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