Lori

This is my dear dear friend, Lori. She should have turned 34 today. She has been gone for almost 9 years. There hasn't been one single day in that time I haven't thought about her and missed her terribly.

Lori and I met at Jordan High. We bonded over needing an Immodium. Everyday our friendship became more unique and special. We ate lunch in the hallway. We were nerds. We found humor in everything. How else could we survive high school?


My friend Natalie, Lori and I became a pretty tight trio. We were always at Dee's on a Saturday night. Always, fries and a Diet Coke. Or whatever. You could also find us at Chick-Fil-A a lot when we were supposed to be in school. Being nerds, food was our drug of choice!


Lori had nicknames for everything and everybody. I think that made everything seem special, more important.
A good friend was a homegirl. Anything cute or endearing had the word "home" in front of it. My first vehicle, a little tan Nissan truck with a shell, was called the "Home Shoe" because she thought it looked like a Converse High Top. Presents were "tresents", a mix of a treasure and a present. Any type of GI distress was a "poo-job problem". If a boy was mean to you, she threatened to "kick him in the peep". I could go on and on. Every single person (and car) in her family has a nick name. Lori's nick name was Pingon. Sometimes Pingon the Duck. Sometimes she signed letters: Pingon the Emotionally Unstable Duck. I still have some!

She always loved us unconditionally, "all the way down to our toe jams". And always wanted us to pinch our cheeks. And our bum cheeks.

She'd always say, "I'll be back in two slaps of a Pingon's bum cheek!"


Oh, my Lori! I miss her BIG hair! We had to sit in the back when we went to movies so people wouldn't say they couldn't see over it!! She had a car with a t-top, and when they were off, sometimes her hair would stick out of the top!


Oh, my Lori! I miss your Duck Noises! Luckily, you taught me how to do them. My kids love them.



I miss my friend. I miss her true heart. She always made me feel good. She always made everything better.


I miss laughing till we either puked or peed. I miss our inside jokes, that NO ONE ever understood.


She taught me to embrace my differences. She taught me that the best friends you have are sometimes those you seem to have nothing in common with. She taught me that ANYTHING can be funny, that the crappy stuff in life always makes for a good story later on. She taught me what true friendship is. True, lasting friendship. Even when you can't see each other any more.

I can still hear her voice, and her laugh, and her sound effects, and I'm so glad. I can still see her hands, and smell her hairspray. I'm so glad she never left completely. She left such a clear stamp on all those she touched, and we are all better for it.



We miss you, our Lori Ann. Thank you for staying in our hearts. Happy happy birthday my beautiful friend! Pinch your cheeks!