Special Girls in My Life: Rachel Hales

I love many people. Too many, I have been told, but love is something that you have more of to give as you give more of it, so what they say is just complete bull. I regret that I cannot give more of my time and effort to everyone I wish to. I live my life as I can and let those I can know that I do love them, or at least I try. For my wedding, it was simply impossible for me to have all the bridesmaids I wanted. The seven I ended up with were plenty. It was hard for me to settle on them because I have so many friends who truly mean a lot to me and who I felt deserved to be in the mix. But, having 20 or so bridesmaids is silly, especially when the Bridal party is already huge due to the nature of John's and my combined very large immediate family. So I settled on five of my closest friends, John's unmarried step-sister, and John's close female friend. Here I would like to give a tribute to my wonderful bridesmaids and the ladies who are, if you will, my unofficial bridesmaids, whether they know it or not.

Rachel Hales, along with Amanda Ryther, is an angel in my life.  I've never had anyone make me feel as at home as these two. Hours of storytelling on which they insisted (mostly Rachel) made them the ultimate authorities on John, as my friends. They've been there for me through almost everything John and I have gone through, and yet not in a way that intrudes on my relationship with John. I got scared of sharing my excitement about John because I didn't want to overtake the show, but with these two it just added to our friendships, and also helped add to my relationship with John. Rachel, in asking for advice on her boy problems, helped me figure out some issues I was dealing with. Rachel is my hero. Rachel is so loving and seemingly completely void of judgmental perspectives. She reaches out to absolutely everyone around her and accepts them for who they are, yet she doesn't do so blindly by giving her total trust to those who don't deserve it. She has overcome hardships in her life, and she truly knows how to smile no matter what. I can't wait to spend more time throughout my life getting to know Rachel. I know these two friendships will last.