I have a few best friends, but Cahlin and Taryn are unlike anyone I've ever met before.
They are sisters and two years apart. I first met Cahlin when I was about 12 or 13 years old through my sister (my older sister and their older sister were best friends..). I was showing her my yearbook picture from the 7th grade.. I just got my yearbook and I thought I looked "like so totally hott" so I just had to show it off. She didn't really say much about it, in fact she never really said much... until I got to know her. After a few visits to their house and a couple scrappy soccer games in a grass corral in their front yard, I realized Cahlin was just as crazy as I was if not crazier. Our very first inside joke had something to do with the brakes on a car, and we've had hundreds more since then. I loved going over to their house because they lived on a large piece of land and you could expect a soccer game, football game, or a game of night-tag or manhunt every night. Play in the dirt all day and then be too exhausted to bathe, both of us would sleep with hardened dirt between the creases of our knees and neck... wake up the next morning and do it all over again. They lived only two miles away from me and we spent plenty of time together, unfortunately due to financial reasons, they moved to a smaller town about 2.5 hours away... but that didn't change a thing.
Although Taryn is only a year younger than me, she started hanging out with my younger sister at first.. after a few awkward times together, we realized they really didn't have much in common at all.... my sister liked dolls, Taryn liked soccer.. etc. So Taryn started hanging around with Cahlin and I and it's been the same ever since.
Taryn is more of the conscience of the group. A tall, skinny, bony blonde haired girl with an arm span of about 50 feet and long "ostrich legs". When we played soccer in her yard, if Taryn didn't get the ball from you... she stole your dignity by finding a way to shove your face in the dirt. Although she is mean as a wet cat on the soccer field, Taryn has a great heart and I always thought she would make a great mom. Whenever their mom would give us money for something, Taryn was always the one to remind us not to spend it all in one place..." do we really need 90 packages of reeses cups???" eh.. perhaps not.
Like most best friends, fights are inevitable.. from something silly to something quite meaningful.. if you've been friends long enough, fights are going to happen... right? .....wrong. Cahlin and I have never ever ever in the history of our friendship EVER gotten into a fight.. or even an argument, disagreement, or even a small difference in opinions... same goes for Taryn. They are incredibly easygoing and even easier to get along with.
For the past few years my family has gone on trips into the mountains and rivers of Utah. It's a guided tour on the river with zero electricity, no showers, no mattresses... all you have if your tent, raft, and a can with a toilet seat for number two. On average it is about 105 degrees during the day and drops to about 50 at night. The flies in some parts are unbearable and the dry cracking lips could make even the strongest cry.. a little. For some, this is a formula for disaster and can really bring out the nasty side in people... but not for Cahlin and Taryn. For a whole week of this we heard nothing but laughs and words of appreciation to my dad for taking them on the trip. They didn't complain once or even show a sign of aggravation or frustration. They both are incredibly generous, grateful, and would lend a helping hand at the drop of a hat.
Unlike the majority of the people I know (or the teen population for that matter..) they have never had a drink of alcohol and wouldn't touch a drug with a ten foot pole. They come from a conservative family with lots of kids and attend Church every Sunday. They understand their faith in God and really apply it to their every day lives. Both of them love kids and animals and have had numerous jobs working in stressful situations as camp counselors. We all have so much in common, from soccer, movies, music, sports, activities, sense of humor, animals, love of kids, faith in God, and ability to find humor in anything.. we could be sisters. Cahlin and I are convinced that if you put all three of us in a white padded room with nothing, we would find a way to be perfectly happy and laugh until our abs hurt.. in fact I'm sure that's already happened at some point haha.
We are so incredibly much alike, but in some ways we are also so very different.. and our differences fill each other like puzzle pieces and that's one of the many reasons why we are so close. For example, I am more outgoing to strangers and I have no problem being the one to talk or introduce in a social setting, Taryn is more of the conscience between us and will keep us in line (or alive in some situations!), and Cahlin has a way of always finding the positives in anything, and it doesn't take much for her to keep our spirits up in a tough situation. It's almost like she gives off this positive energy and she doesn't even have to speak.. and you know everything will be okay.
Our families get along great and my parents absolutely adore Cahlin and Taryn. They have been through a lot in their life and it would be so easy for them to fall into drugs, alcohol, sex, or worse and blame it on past issues... but they don't. With hardship they've become stronger in their faith, positive role models, and good contributors to society. We now have the ability and opportunity to go to school together and play soccer for a college team, we promised money won't be an issue and we will do whatever it takes to be roommates (an accident waiting to happen :D)
I hope everyday that their parents are incredibly proud of them. I am and I am honored and blessed by God to know who they are, let alone call them a friend.
