Best Shot Monday: Friends and Strangers Project, Dana

Meet my lovely friend Dana. Dana and I met more than twenty years ago when we both started working at the college. Dana was a counselor at the time and has since switched over to teaching psychology full-time. Unfortunately, she's now on another campus, so we don't get to see each other as much. Over the years, we have bonded over our love of art and animals. That's her sweet girl Faith in the picture with her.

We have very different personalities, but I think it's those differences that keep us close. We have different ways of viewing the world and the day to day trials of life. Being a psychologist, Dana is far more analytical than I am and is much better at digging deep into her thoughts and analyzing why she feels a certain way or why things may be happening the way they are happening. Me, I've never been much of an analyzer; I'm pretty much a "it is what it is...deal with it" kind of girl. Given that, I think she's able to help me analyze when I need to, and I'm able to help her take a step back and just accept what is without the analysis when she needs to!

Last fall, we went on an art retreat up to the Outer Banks of North Carolina together. When Dana discovered Serendipity online, there were just two spots left. She decided that was fate and called me to say we needed to go. Even with the retreat scheduled for the Alabama/Tennessee game weekend, Benny agreed that we needed to go (we do have our football priorities around here). We had such a wonderful trip. We took one class together (Melody Ross) and then one class separately (Dana took Hannah Marcotti and I took Kate Inglis). As we shared our day after our separate class, Dana said she had to hold back laughs several times throughout the day thinking "Oh my, how Kelly would hate this exercise..." Hannah's class was filled with the type of deep introspection that Dana is great at, the same type of deep introspection I have no patience for!

We also had a full day just to play and explore, and since we planned to hit all the antique and vintage shops we could find that day, Benny was concerned with what we'd come home with. After all, we intentially took Sally (my extended wheel base minivan) with the back seats removed so that we'd have plenty of room to bring home whatever treasures we found. Dana was on the hunt for a carousel horse, which we didn't find. I was on the hunt for an old door, which now sits proudly in the corner of my living room with a brightly lit star hanging on it. I so very clearly remember Benny walking over to the van when we got home, looking in the back and saying, "Why is there an old door in the back of the van?" Now, Benny is fully in support of me trading Sally in for a smaller vehicle, you know, for the better gas mileage...

These days, Dana and I make time to get together for lunch dates, art play dates, and wandering through antique shops, some of my favorite things to do. And usually the redheads join us. They love when "Miss Dana" comes over to play. Thank you, Dana, for all these years of special friendship. I look forward to many, many more!

Click here for more Friends and Strangers Project posts. I wrote about what I learned at Serendipity here.