Wednesday, March 26, 2014

The Best Friend and Their Journey Together :The Nela Diary

I'm sitting here trying to remember and think about what I should share with all of you about my journey alongside Kayla in the past year. It's funny looking back because Kayla and I haven't been friends for decades like most best friends have. We've actually really only known each other a handful of years. It was a couple of years ago that we started hanging out more regularly and discovered that we are both equally as awesome and into the same types of things. It was honestly laugh at first sight(so cheesy, i know).
There are very few people that I identify myself with and find a sense of home in, and Kayla surpasses that. I can't find the right words to describe what she means to me. The only way that I can really describe it is a feeling that I get when I hear her name or when I see a snap chat from her. It's a feeling of pure joy and love. Kayla is the type of person who tells you what she really thinks, the person who will laugh with you about the dumbest little joke until neither of you can breathe anymore, and she's the type of person who sends me a McDonalds gift card along with a french fry holder for the car for Valentine's Day because she knows there is nothing else I would do on Valentine's day than sit in my car and eat french fries. Her thoughtfulness, her quirks, and her "do whatever makes you happy" outlook on life are only three of the countless reasons that I am so blessed to have her in my life.

I still remember surprising her with a box of Lou Malnati's the evening before she was going to get her test results. I knew that she was scared, and I knew that even though she said she'd rather be alone, there was no way in hell I'd allow that. Like a lot of things, we talk about everything in a lighter way. We turned around to the positive and made little jokes about fake boobs and going to the bars with a jar saying tips for tits, because neither one of us wanted to face the reality of what could be. It was a very difficult year for a lot of people who know Kayla. She doesn't know this, but I cried a lot. Even though I stayed positive the whole time, I would sometimes breakdown to my brothers or my parents. I always thought, "How could something like this happen to a good person like Kayla?" I started thinking about a speaker at a leadership conference that I went to a few years back. She suffered from a terrible tragedy, one that I don't think I would ever recover from, and she then said that she spent so much time saying "Why would god do this to me?" and she decided to stop and think "Why would god do this FOR me?" She saw it as something that she had to overcome and become stronger from in the process. It amazed me and I started applying what i heard from her to every obstacle in my life including this one. Kayla and I have changed so much in the past year since she got breast cancer(and kicked it's @$$!!).  I have always tried to be there as much as I can, and she has always been there for me. A lot of the time, it felt like Kayla was helping me rather than the other way around.

I've seen Kayla from the beginning until now and I've seen her through her lowest lows and her highest highs. Never in my life could I have imagined anyone to be so positive about this experience and have such an amazing outlook. One day when she was really sad, she immediately took out a notebook to start writing about the "100 reasons I'm thankful to have cancer." This alone shows you the incredible strength and assets of this amazing woman. We picked up a few quotes from some of the most underrated movies that helped both of us see the great picture. One of our favorites, "F*ck Everyone!" from Bachelorette. The more and more we said it, the more we started to believe it. We looked past other people's judgments and opinions and we focused on the positive. If someone was a jerk to me, she'd say it. If someone was a jerk to her, I'd say it and send a telepathic punch with it. We've had nights that would be so crazy and random that it would only happen to us. She is the person I send snapchats of my double chin face to, and stand in the front row of our favorite 90's bands and fantasize about becoming best friends with them (Matt <3), and tell my deepest, darkest (and funniest) secrets to. I've learned from her and from the amazing support group that she had about the ability of people and how people's hearts are so much larger than I could have ever imagined. She has taught me more in the last year than I have in five, and my life has been exponentially better since she came into my life.

I love you so much Kayla. Thank you for blessing my life with every part of your soul and for showing me so much more in life.

XOXO

Your Bestie,

Katy Perry





P.s. F*ck Dave.


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