And it feels so good!

One of the (millions of) fun things about living in San Francisco is that it is a destination of sorts such that friends are often coming through for work or other occasions and this creates a somewhat steady stream of visitors.  The past few days have been particularly visitor and fun filled, so this is my first in a series of posts featuring some of our recent visitors!

I recently posted about my old friend Ashley who was my best friend in Atlanta during 7th and 8th grade, but with whom I slowly lost touch after my family moved.  This was the course of most of my friendships throughout my life.  When you move every couple years (or months!) it is quite difficult to foster long-lasting friendships.  Especially as a kid.  However, I do have ONE, single, solitary friend who has lasted through the ages.  This, along with the fact that she is completely fabulous, makes her very dear to me.  Katie Barton.

Katie and I met the summer that I was 6 years old and my family was in between moves from Monterey, CA to Washington, DC.  The summer was ending and for some reason our house in DC wasn’t ready in time for us to move in and start school.  Since my brother & I would typically spend the summers at my grandparents’ house in South Carolina (usually while my mom and dad packed, moved, or just did fun things without us), we ended up starting school there in good ole’ Chapin, SC.  I met Katie that summer before 2nd grade started and over the next 4 months we laid the foundation for a friendship that would last a lifetime by playing in sprinklers, going tubing on the lake, playing dress-up, etc.  Although my family proceeded to move to DC then to Panama to Kansas to Georgia to Newberry, SC, I would always return to Chapin for the summers and we would pick right back up where we left off.

Katie is such a jewel of a friend.  She has a heart of gold, a totally NY fashion sense, quick humor, and above all, she has been a loyal friend to me for almost 20 years now.  Which is pretty amazing.

Katie was in SF for a recent work-trip where we were able to meet up for dinner and my time with her reminded me how lucky I am to have her as a friend.

xoxox – ash