Farrah

Farrah and me at the Del Mar races in 2009
(photo by Megan Beard)

Moving to a new city can feel really difficult at times.  Even though I'm not too far from my family in Orange County, not having the people I love the most around for day-to-day living can be really rough.  However, living in another country and everyone parting after college forces you to accept this reality, although it doesn't make it that much easier.  I'm lucky to have people who keep in touch with me despite the distance, people I know will be in my life forever.

Me and Farrah in Sweden, Spring 2011
(photo by Erin Nelson)

One of them is my dear friend Farrah Chini.  Today she really made me realize how blessed I am, as she spent over an hour and a half on the phone with me (something very few people take the time for nowadays).  No one can cheer me up quite like her, and she understands me in a way no one else does because of the parallels in our lives.  She was a total sweetheart to me today, building me up and listening to me gab on and on with inexplicable patience.  I don't think I've ever met someone who made me feel so good about simply being me.  Farrah is the kind of person you can always count on to be there for you, no matter what is going on in her own life.  She shares in both my joy and my suffering - her heart breaks for me when I'm in pain and I can't quite describe just how beautiful she is inside and out.  No one loves quite like her.  Over the years she's become more than a best friend, more than a roommate.  To me, she's family and I'm so blessed just to know her.

Me and Farrah in Sweden, Spring 2011
(photo by Erin Nelson)