Vienna, 2001–first photo before our 10 day trek together.

Lauren and I were an unlikely pair from the beginning.  I decided to study abroad in Austria my junior year of college and while I was brave enough to board a plane and fend for myself in youth hostels for a few days prior to the start of my program, I was still naïve and “fresh off the farm.”  I thought bib overalls were acceptable for my initial introduction to my peers with whom I’d be spending the next six months.  American students from all over the country met in the “U-bahn” (train station) for the first time, and from there journeyed into the mountains for our orientation and opportunity to choose our roommates.  It was January, and I showed up in capri bib overalls, and proceeded to sit on the cement floor of the train station in order to play with the pigeons until the rest of the students arrived.  I remember Lauren sauntering past me with her city-stride, dressed in black from head to toe, except for her dazzling diamonds and animal print jacket.  I realize that memory is subjective and tends to seriously age with time, but I’m positive that she had a city attitude and her Long Island accent spoke disdain of my small country world and pigeon friends.  I didn’t like her. I didn’t want to live with her, and I’m positive that I was at the bottom of her list.  We had the weekend in the mountains to choose our roommates, and as fate would have it, we choose the same couple of girls to live with, and therefore got stuck with each other in the process.  The following Monday we moved in to a 6th story flat in downtown Vienna and my room was next to hers.

Our Austrian shenanigans were fast and furious–we settled in as quickly as possible and before we knew it we had ten days off in the middle of February.  I don’t remember exactly how or why we made these plans, but Lauren and I decided to travel together; I think it’s possible that everyone else had plans already and we by default decided to “friend up” and tackle Europe.  We bought Eurail passes, and we spent ten days traveling–Brussels, Interlocken, Paris, Barcelona…we ruled the world, until I got really sick in Barcelona and had to get back to Vienna to get to a hospital that took my insurance.  Lauren stayed by my side, tried to help me see the humor of being admitted in to the maternity ward, and came to visit me repeatedly until I was released.  (I obviously wasn’t pregnant, but my German was poor and apparently what I thought meant stomach ache had other meanings.)

In Barcelona, February 2001.

Those ten days of February sealed the deal for us, as we traveled together the rest of the semester and even booked a trip to Turkey at the end of the program because neither one of us was ready to go home.  I remember saying goodbye back in Vienna–we both promised to keep in touch, and I knew that it wasn’t the cliché farewell that so often happens.  I knew that I’d get her to the farm to go muddin’ and ride the combine, and I knew that I’d buy some new clothes and go to New York.  As different as we were, I knew that our values were similar, and that would be enough to be friends through the distance.

Lauren did come to the farm one summer, went muddin on a four-wheeler, roasted hot dogs and marshmallows and learned all about the tractors and combines.  She showed me around New York one spring and introduced me to her friends.  She flew to Illinois for my wedding and Nicholas and I attended hers in Long Island.  After I moved to Texas, we met in Florida a couple of summers for girls weekends and I flew to New York to visit after her first child, Jake was born.

In Fort Lauderdale, summer 2010.

Lauren and Jake last weekend.

Last weekend I went to visit her beautiful family and met her newborn–Leah Rose. Although we don’t talk on the phone every day or see each other frequently, we always pick up where we left off with a sense of comfort and ease that I feel with very few people.   I’m so thankful that we both went on an Austrian adventure 13 years ago and got stuck in the same flat, and I’m even more thankful that we continue to make the effort to keep up with each other in spite of the distance and chaos of busy lives.

Sweet baby Leah.