Happy 10th Anniversary!

Wow!  Looking back on the second week of September, 2001, it was a significant week for Julie Pandiani.  Here's a little frame of reference:

I had just finished up a middle school youth internship at my church.  Here Mandy and I prepare for a make over party with 20+ middle school girls, all in tween love with Apollo Ohno.  

And on Labor Day weekend I worked at the YoungLife Teriyaki booth with the man that I would later call my husband and the man we all call Juan Pedro.  

There's the obvious event of the second week of September.  The morning of September 11th I was preparing for my first real date with Joey (Slurpees and frisbee) and packing to move to Bellingham for school.  The date was delayed, of course.  Joey was fulfilling his role as Airman Hawkins.  When we look back, we're always a little shocked that we rescheduled our date (coffee and a walk at Jerisich Park).  I'm glad we did.

But this post isn't to commemorate world events or budding romances.  No, one other very important event happened that already packed week.  10 years ago this week I moved into the Forest Fire.

The Forest Fire was the house I lived in at Western (it was on Forest, go figure).  During my tenure, there were 7 girls in the house and a cast of regular characters coming through the door.  It would be a gross understatement to say that we had a lot of fun in our house.  I still laugh out loud at the many shenanigans we found ourselves in.  And I should point out that all of this was completely sober too, we were very responsible.  Well, not always when it came to homework and going to class.  But the closest we came to parties was joking that Emily's last name befitted a frat boy, "Burghoffer, you're crazy!  Get off the roof!"  

I realized while writing this post that most of my pictures from this era are pre-digital camera!  Very few pics on the hard drive.  

Many of this crew continue to be the most premium friends I could ever, ever ask for.  Some have lost touch, some new faces have come along, but a core group has remained close.  And most of us have an uncanny ability to pick up right where we left off.  We've walked with each other through break-ups, transfers, graduations, new jobs, big moves, weddings, babies, life's really tough/dark times, and its really great times.  We've lived, worked, traveled, dreamed, planned, schemed, and most importantly, laughed together.  

So, to my dear friends, Happy 10 year anniversary!  May we always enjoy memories of Majestica Majestica, Anna's creepy doll Nancy, Holly navigating the Atkins diet, Cabin Fever 2002, "robbers" who leave messages on our answering machine. . . twice, calendars of JTT, abbrevs, DJ Lethal, and all things lil.  And may our future be filled with new adventures (preferably together), yard wine, and Capris on stoops all over the world. . . and (of course) coveralls.