Kristin Fish

So the main reason why Emily and I traveled to the East Coast was for Kristin's wedding! We were both bridesmaids along with Megan, her sister, as maid of honor. This was special in itself because the four of us have been close since the beginning of High School. I knew of Kristin since Jr. High from church, but we became friends when we were in the same P.E. class at Valencia. I was very thankful for how God brought her along at that time.
I wasn't too fond of High School at the beginning. I was used to a small Christian school with about 15 students in my 8th grade class. It was very different be in a class of around 700. I also wasn't used to the language or the conversation topics. In fact, after having enough of it after about a week, I broke down in tears in the second class of the day. Art with Mr. Bibicoff. An older girl in the class who was pretty outgoing took me outside and talked to me. I don't even remember what she said, but it was a little comforting. However, a few days later I still didn't want to be there and I told Mr. Bibicoff that I didn't feel well. I don't think he liked any sort of conflict and so he immediately said that I could go to the office. I called my dad and asked him to pick me up. Then I tried reasoning with my parents about other options for schooling. Thankfully I made it through the first month okay. I could not understand at the time why my friends that I had from Grace seemed to love public high school, and I quickly wound up not spending too much time with them. I made a couple of friends in P.E. and it was going okay, but none of them were very close. Then Kristin showed up. I never would have thought when I saw her for the first time in Jr. High that she would become a best friend. We soon introduced our sisters to each other since they were the same age, and as I like to say, "forced them to become friends."
From there it took off to slumber parties, "fashion photo shoots", CoolTay Productions, late night t.p. raids, .007 tournaments... the four of us loved to hang out together.
When I first went to Master's, Kristin was going to C.O.C. but I still went over to her house every Thursday night for dinner and we would often meet for coffee at Starbucks. When Megan finished High School the Cooley family moved to Massachusetts so that Mr. Cooley could be an Associate Pastor at a church there with his friend that he met in seminary. It was not easy saying good-bye. It was one of those summers where I felt like I didn't have many friends around, which made it worse.
I won't go into too much of our friendship while she was gone those two years, but I will say that God demonstrated His faithfulness in many ways. He also answered a lot of prayer, which helped me learn that there is never anything too great that I can ask of Him. All of this made this wedding all the more meaningful to me. :0)
Em and I were super blessed to have the Cooley's for two more years when they came back to go to Master's. Something Kristin promised she would never do! Haha. (Just why she couldn't have gone when I went I'm still trying to figure out.) :0)
But, Kristin had already met Jerry in Massachusetts. They worked at Starbucks together and he wasn't saved when they met. God used Kristin to tell him about the gopel, or actually I think he had heard the gospel from his family but she talked to him about it more. I guess he seemed interested at first but didn't give his life to the Lord right away. Eventually he did and he actually moved out here right before (I think it was before) Kristin did. He actually had planned to go to UCLA which he did for awhile. So I am also so thankful that we got to know him when he was here.
The wedding was really perfect. It was fun and easy just having the three of us, I think. Kristin got to have her "autumn style" wedding. We decorated the aisle with leaves and pretty autumn flowers and we wore bronze colored dresses. Kristin's dress was beautiful, it was a mix of ivory and white and had a unique style. There were tears and laughter...and I feel like this is gradually becoming a very corny sounding post, but it's all true. Megan gave a perfect, tear-inducing toast at the reception.
It was a little weird seeing my last close friend from high school get married. As she and Jerry were driving away I had this sense of finality in a way. Like even though my childhood ended already, this felt like the REAL ending.
It's sad to be separated from Kristin and Megan again, but thankfully, as believers, we know it's only for a time!