Nov. 7th- Kara

Nov 7th- Kara

There once was a girl, kind and fair
Who was blessed with flowing red hair
She's bossy and bold
But truer than gold
And she likes me even when my limericks don't rhyme.

Kara is my best friend.  That's what she told me when we were sophomores in college and stayed up late during the first week of school talking about boys and crushes. (Well, I think she actually said, "Do you want to be best friends? Let's be best friends!") I thought to myself that perhaps the moniker of best friend might be a bit early considering we'd only had about three conversations previous to this, but I'm kinda mellow, so I said, "ok" and it stuck. Kara and I didn't talk much our freshman year. I only have two memories of her, in fact, the first is that she was really loud and excited about going to the PhatBash (yes that's what it was called... such a bad name!) on our first night in the dorms, (And I was amazed by (and scared by) her, because how could someone feel so comfortable so quickly? *I* felt like a turtle in a ball pit. -Totally out of place and sinking fast.) The second memory I have is her trying to teach me Hebrew on a napkin when I was totally uninterested. Then our sophomore year we ended up in the same suite by a random series of coincidences and the rest is history.

Kara and I have come a long way since, then. She is one of the few people outside my family who can read me accurately, and who knows when I'm upset even when I try to hide it. Kara and I are not very similar... but I think we are very complimentary. She is pretty intense and bossy (in a good way!) and I am pretty low key and can't make decisions, but love going along for the ride. She has emotional responses which help me recognize when someone was out of line or offensive, and I can encourage her to wait to confront someone until the next day. Basically she's the rabbit and I'm the turtle and when they work together they both finish the race in record time. I think the one place where we do line up nicely is our sense of humor. We pretty much think all of the same things are funny. OK, I may never have her appreciation for Kristen Wiig from SNL, and she may never share my love of the Pioneer Woman, but other than that we are good.

Only a couple of white girls with the same sense of humor could pose as such believable thugs

Have you ever played the "which character would I be" game? Basically you take an ensemble cast (like Friends) and cast yourself and your friends in the roles. One of the nicest things about Kara is that she always seems to cast me as the lead character. I know it doesn't necessarily seem like much, but people are usually pretty self focused, and when a show revolves more around one character, that is the character that people naturally put themselves into... But Kara doesn't do that. With Friends, she thinks I'm Rachel. I'm also Frodo, to her Sam, Harry to her Ron, and Diana to her Anne. (Ok I know that Anne is actually the main character in that last one, but come on! A red-head with a tendency towards emotional reactions and dramatics...and a dark headed bosom friend who basically goes along with everything she says.. LM Montgomery was pretty much writing about the two of us!)

Kara is always there when I need someone to help me shop for clothes, or a sympathetic ear, or an encouragement. She always seems to know exactly what to say (and what not to say) when I'm upset, and I know that I can trust her to assume the best about me. She is very good at talking and filling the silence, so that I don't have to come up with things to say, but listening when I do have something. She knows I hate to drive, so she always does. (In fact she's even coming with us to St. Louis tomorrow, so that I won't have to drive as much!) She doesn't mind that I don't like politics or that I hate intellectual arguing, even though she loves them, and she has been a crucial member of my support system in the past year.

Neither Kara nor I are very touchy... Some people are touchy people, some aren't and we are the latter. One time we were on a walk and I was demonstrating something and I had to touch her arm and so I did... and then it was silent for about 30 seconds and then we both started talking about how it was weird. So Kara and I don't really hug or anything... instead we talk about our forever friendship... and usually as dramatically as possible, because I wasn't joking about identifying with Anne and Diana (I'm terribly sorry to all the boys out there who have never read Anne of Green Gables. Maybe you should go rent the movie with Megan Follows, I swear it's not as bad as you think it is.) Here is an excerpt from an e-mail Kara sent me not long after Nathan was diagnosed, she might be a little embarrassed that I put this in here... but I think it shows how incredible of a friend Kara is to me.

"So you just keep in your head that there's nothing you can ask me for that could be harder than what you're facing, so you owe it to me to ask and to give me as much of the load as can be given.  Even then, it will be so little. 
Just to make sure you don't forget, you are my best friend and I am your best friend.  And we decided all that a long time ago, but we didn't swear an oath like Anne and Diana, so I just wanted to do that now:
Just like Anne, and pretend we're holding hands over running water: I solemnly swear to be faithful to my bosom friend, Renee Dunn, as long as the sun and moon shall endure."

Yes, dramatic but that doesn't make it any less heartfelt, and it still makes me tear up. I'm so incredibly grateful for such an amazing friend.