today is a special day

Because it's Katie's birthday. And she makes me laugh.

Although Katie and I passed frequently on campus freshman year, we never officially met until our sophomore year, when she walked into our math class on the first day, looked at me and said "Oh. It's you." I immediately liked her because she sometimes complimented my clothes, she knew all of the homework answers, and thought our teacher was as crazy as I did. And did I mention that she makes me laugh?

One of my favorite memories of Katie was when one of our professors told a joke during class, and she was one of only 2 people in a class of over 50 students who laughed. Loudly. Then the rest of us laughed, but not necessarily at the joke.

And then there was the time we were in San Diego and spent a good 15 minutes gossipping about one of our friends because we thought he had gone to the gym and therefore was not in the house and could not overhear our conversation. He hadn't gone to the gym. And then, on this same trip, she somehow managed to fall asleep on the zoo bus.

And I hold her personally responsible for getting me a job, because she helped me pick out my interview outfit, and I'm pretty sure that's the reason they hired me. And when she came out to Penn State, we laughed at the engineer who works out for fun so that he could impress his girlfriend, and whose girlfriend had the same shoes as Katie, but whose girlfriend bought his girlfriend's shoes at Payless, not Nordstroms, and this same girlfriend really liked to dance, because she was his girlfriend, and who doesn't love to dance with their girlfriend?

BUT, although these are all fabulous memories, my absolute favorite thing about Katie, ever, is that, during our last semester of college, when I thought my sister hated me, she was the one and only person I talked to who actually made me feel better about it. Which, at the time, I wasn't sure was entirely possible. And for that, I am eternally grateful.

So happy birthday to Katie!