thehowe_v7.1

I quietly added a link to the side navigation menu under the "friends" section a couple of weeks ago, but I thought I should probably mention something here, as the event it refers to is rather momentous. My old old friend, Nikki Wendling, whose family has known my family since before we were born, got engaged. Obviously, congratulations are in order.

As the story goes in my family, my parents didn't decide they wanted to have a kid until they babysat Nikki - so, as I've been told many times, I owe my existence to her. Our families didn't see much of her when we were children - her family moved to Ohio, so typically only once a year or so. Then in the summer of '98 our families started an annual tradition: Canoe trips into Quetico Park in Canada, just north of Minnesota. She, her sister Jess, myself and Troy have become much closer in the years since.

As always, news of people in my age group entering the "real world" is a little scary. Nikki's only a little older than I am (1, 2 years? That's horrible that I don't remember.), and the fact that she's engaged is just downright scary. Yeah, sure, people I graduated with are already getting married, but plenty of people I graduated with already had kids when we graduated, so that doesn't mean much. This is Nikki, whom I've known forever, and she's getting married.

Yikes.