7 years of friendship

Second post! This blog thing is a lot more fun than I had first thought. So after writing my last post, I wanted to spend some time telling you guys about my incredible best friend. Her name is Alexis Nicole Mathioudakis (yes we have matching middle names, how cool is that). We first met in 8th grade on a church ski retreat. Here are our first pictures together. ever. 

Up until this ski retreat, we had hated eachother. We shared a mutual best friend and for several years it was a "competition" to see which was the real best friend. Throughout this competition, Lexi was so unbelievably nice to me. Facebook was the new thing our 7th and 8th grade years. Our first ever communication was in October of 2007, where Lexi commented on one of my facebook pictures. Her comment was, "aww thats really cute! o btw how old are u? i know ur 13 but when are u 14." To this day, we go back to the picture and read that first comment and just laugh. Laugh because Lexi was trying to be nice to me, and I was annoyed by her. The way I treated Lexi was so unfair; I didn't know anything about her. If I had gotten to know her straight from the beginning, I would have soon realized what an amazing girl she was.  However, God's timing is perfect. We both agree that those few years of "hatred and competition" brought us to where we are today, and we can honestly laugh about it now. 

After ski retreat, we started hanging out more because we went to the same youth group on Wednesday  nights. That summer was the first time Lexi and I ever hung out alone. I invited her over to my house after volunteering at VBS. We took pictures (duh) outside. Laying in the grass, on the swingset, standing on fire hydrants, and wearing sunglasses in my room. I don't remember much about that day besides the fact that this girl was so much fun. The laughter that takes place whenever I'm with Lexi is one of my favorite things about our friendship, and we've had that since the beginning, since our very first time hanging out. 

That fall was when our friendship really started to develop more. Our youth group went on a fall retreat for a weekend and I remember being SO excited when I found out Lexi had signed up too. I was quickly beginning to realize that life with Lexi was never boring and always an adventure. Freshman year fall retreat was definitely a year to remember. I can remember the exact seat Lexi and I sat in on the bus for part of the trip. Pictures were of course taken but will not be shown here because of how incredibly awful we looked. But you can just imagine two freshman girls, with headphones in, wind blowing through the windows of the bus, giggling and taking pictures. After fall retreat, Lexi came to a few Carmel football games and tennis matches, and of course, pictures were taken. (Are you beginning to see a trend here?) Like I mentioned before, laughter was always always always present. 

Lexi is an incredible photographer. She has always loved taking pictures and I am a true eye witness of this statement. Her little pink point-and-shoot camera with duct tape on it went everywhere with us that first year of friendship. Lexi didn't go anywhere without it. I am proud to say that I knew Lexi before her photography business took off, before she got her first real DSLR camera, and before she decided she wanted to focus on photography for the rest of her life. One of Lexi's very first "photoshoots" (if you wanna call it that) took place in a trail behind her house during the fall of our freshman year. I was lucky enough to be chosen to be one of the models during this shoot. ;) Here's a picture of Lex and I during this day. 

A few weeks after that, another shoot took place. This time, I decided to sport one of the dresses I had just made in sewing class. I luckily snagged a picture with the photographer herself before we headed home on the golf cart. 

That was a really fun couple of months for me. The beginnings of a true friendship is such a sweet thing and boy, did we have a great time enjoying those moments. 

Life continued to move; at a slow pace it seemed to us back then. However, remembering our times in high school now, it all seemed to fly by way too fast. So much growing, learning, and discovering happened in those years. And I had Lexi by my side the whole way. Sophomore year came around and I cut my hair. You might be thinking, "Why in the world did she just mention a haircut in a post about her best friend?" Let me tell you why. My hair was long. And I was beginning to be tired of it. So randomly one day, I chopped 10 inches off. I shudder thinking about that moment now, but back then I thought it was a cool thing to do. Surprisingly enough, looking at the length of my hair in these pictures was the only way for me to know exactly what order they were taken in. So that is why I am mentioned the hair cut, because now come the awkward pictures with my shoulder length hair. Lexi and I continued on in our friendship. 

We were an absolutely ridiculous, hilarious, and goofy pair when we were together. (We still are, but shhh). Our sense of humors click perfectly with each other. She gets me and I get her. It was beautiful to watch that develop as the months went by. 

We had two other best friends, Meredith and Kate. The four of us decided to venture on our first missions trip ever. It was an absolutely life changing experience for all four of us. We grew closer to each other, to our group there, and especially in each of our own individual walks with Him. Our time in Queretaro, Mexico was a week that I will remember for the rest of my life.

We taught children English, shared the gospel, handed out tracks by knocking on doors, led a VBS at a church in an extremely poor area, and worshipped Jesus together on the roof of that church where we could look out onto the city of Queretaro and really grasp the beauty and vastness of Jesus' power and love for His people. We were all a part of a skit that we would go perform in parks, neighborhoods, and churches. And of course, Lexi and I were partnered up for this skit. It was a very serious and meaningful skit that showed a few different types of sin that are in this world, and then showed how Jesus came and took it all, saving everyone. However, Lexi and I had a hard time not laughing every time we performed. We weren't laughing at the skit; we knew how important the message was. We were just laughing because we were Lexi and Claire. Here are a few pictures from that skit. (You can see us trying to hold in our laughter in the first picture.)

I am so happy that Lexi and I got to share that time together in Mexico serving the people of Queretaro. 

When we got home from the trip, we had an entire summer ahead of us! Many incredible memories were made during that summer. Evenings in broadripple, adventures at Hamilton Town Center, and much more. 

Then came the fall of our junior year. A new addition to our wonderful group of friends came along, all the way from L.A. Our little Emmy joined us on our third fall retreat with church and instantly became one of our best friends. 

I remember that fall being filled with bonfires, late night steak n shake runs, photo shoots, and sleepovers almost every weekend. We were all in our prime time-and loving every second that we had together; all 5 of us. Then our precious Ali became a part of us, and we became 6. 

Lex and I were best friends, but we were not as close as we are now. All 6 of us were extremely close, but Lexi and I had not reached the point in our friendship that we're at now. 

Junior year came and went in a flash. It was a year filled with going to shows and fangirling over the boys in the bands, going through good and bad times together, having countless photo shoots, and spending hours of our days laughing with one another. 

Then came the year we had been thinking about and waiting for for our entire lifes. We were seniors. Senior year was an amazing time of lasts; our last fall retreat, our last first day of school, our last prom, last time all going to the same school. There were so many memories made during this year. Way too many too even tell you about today. So I'll just show you with a bunch of pictures that mean nothing to you, but everything to me. 

And then, faster than we could blink, we were done. We had graduated high school. 

Even though that was only a little over a year ago, you would never guess how much things have changed. There have been good changes, bad changes, sad changes, and amazing changes. One of those amazing changes was my friendship with Lexi. Lexi went off to Ball State that fall while I moved in to my dorm at Grace College. We stayed in touch, but it was hard to keep up while we were creating new friendships and growing close to those new friends at our different colleges. I should've guessed that God had something up His sleeve, but I was a little worried that my friendship with Lexi was never going to be the same as it was in high school. What I didn't know then, was that it was going to be different, but in an even better way. I saw her after being away at school for a few months and it was like nothing had ever changed between us. I was so grateful for that, because other friendships were changing like crazy and I didn't know what to do with myself. 

We finished up our semesters at our separate schools and then the Lord was ready to work His magic. Because of many different situations and events in my life, I transferred to Grace College Indy- an extension program of my school 5 minutes from my house. It was the biggest, hardest, and most emotional decision I've had to make so far in my life. All by myself, I packed up my dorm room in less than 24 hours, and hit the road. Instead of choosing to go straight home, which was calling my name, I took a detour and visited Kate and Lexi and Ball State. I'm going to share with you a picture that was taken as I was pulling out of Grace College's campus and then a picture taken a day later, after being with Lexi. 

This is a perfect example of what Lexi does in my life. She brightens my life, makes everything okay when it feels like its all falling apart, and brings me so much happiness. 

A few days after being home from leaving campus, and feeling pretty lonely, I get a call from Lexi. She explains to me that she is leaving Ball State. Not in the fall, after her first year would've been completed, but the next week. I was absolutely shocked, confused, but rejoicing on the inside. I wasn't going to be alone this semester! Long story short: we had a lot of time together this past semester. We both had separate busy lives, but we spent every waking second of our free time together. We volunteered at a high school's cru on Tuesday nights together and spent almost entire weekends together. It was an amazing time of growth for our relationship and I seriously feel like the luckiest girl in the world to call her my best friend. We road-tripped 22 hours to Florida for spring break together, just the two of us, and had an incredible time. And then this past July, I was able to go to Hilton Head with her family. 

I think that we would both agree that we bring out the best in each other, and that every single part of our story has brought us to where we are now. Lexi now has a booming photography business, and I am so beyond proud of her. She is also attending Pastry School and hopes to someday open up her own bakery. But honestly, hope is not the right word that needs to be used. She WILL open her own bakery, and it will be a huge success. Lexi has a smile that is contagious, a laugh that can make even the most serious person smile, and a heart as big as the planet. She loves everyone and everyone loves her. It's amazing to step back and watch Lexi's life take off as she's becoming the woman the Lord created her to be. I don't know why God chose me-screwed up, boring me- to be this stunning, incredible, and lovely girl's best friend but I will forever be thanking Him for this opportunity to share life with her. So here we are. 20 years old, 7 years into a lifelong friendship, and enjoying every moment we get to spend together. People say that friends come and go, and that is certainly true, but I know without a doubt that Lexi will be a huge part of my life forever.