Mr. & Mrs. Michie

Yesterday I ventured off to Owensboro, KY. I grew up in the small (teeny-tiny) town of Paynesville, IN. It just so happened that all the kids that lived around me where all in the same grade. This is really rare because there was like 6 houses around me and 4 of them had kids my age. The other 2 were mean old people. Grrr..

So, in 5th grade we had 2 new people move into the area. Twins. At first I wasn't very fond of these girls. It took a while for me to warm up to them and become their friend. Once we became friends though, we were inseparable. For 4 years I spent nearly every day with them. Shelly & Kelly. They were my BFF's. We spent countless hours romping in the woods, riding bikes, camping, traveling, whatever. Everything we did, we did together. We were known as the triplets.

I remember one day on the bus in 9th grade they came to me with some pretty bad news. Ok, it was horrible. They were moving away. Not just a little ways up the road or to the next state near us. They were moving to South Carolina. There was absolutely no way I could get past this. I knew it was going to happen though. What was I going to do? We spent EVERY day together until they moved. Counting down the days.... It was awful. The night before they moved away they stayed all night with me. We stayed up all night long. Not a wink of sleep. We knew this was it and we were going to make the best of every last second we had together. We went to school the next day with absolutely no sleep. We shared a seat on the bus that day. We were all sick to our stomach and knew we had about 6 hours left but we'd be in school the whole day and only shared a few classes. The day was nearly over. I was sitting in Mr. Todd's Algebra class when they came to the door. Their grandma, Mammaw Kathy, had withdrew me from school so I could ride home and say goodbye to them. It was awful. You'd think one of us had a terminal illness. Tears were flowing like crazy. I'm sure we had to get her Mammaw's nerves. We cried and cried and cried some more. That was the longest drive from Hanover to Paynesville. We pulled up in my driveway and said our goodbyes. We left with swollen, wet faces but we vowed to always stay in contact with each other. However, there was no Facebook, no cell phones/texting, no free long distance.
(Gasp.. I know)

In the beginning we still talked quite often. As time went on we lost touch with each other. Then came myspace. I finally found them again. I was so excited! We talked off and on through the computer and occasionally by phone. We even met up once for a weekend in Owensboro. When we bought our first home in 2010 both of them returned to Indiana to attend the Housewarming party. It was so  great to see them again. That was the last time we saw each other.

Kelly is a great person but could never find Mr. Right. Just recently she met Chris. Now I don't know Chris at all but I do know if Kelly finally committed to someone he's got to be pretty dang awesome. She's 35 and never been married.  Since I was busy shooting their wedding I didn't get to socialize much or spend a lot of time with them but am glad that I got to attend. I still love Kelly like a sister and even though we've grown up and apart she will always hold a special place in my heart. I wish them the best of luck.

---