Zanny

At my rehearsal dinner, Zanny said that she loved me before she loved Joel. (Joel had this I-don't-know-if-I-should-be-offended look on his face). But, alas, it's true. Zanny and I were close way before Joel came on the scene. Zanny and I met at a conference when we were 10 or 11 years old. We both had short hair. She lived in Kansas, so we just talked every so often. I remember one time when she spent the night with me and we prayed together for our brothers and sisters. She's the kind of person that loves in a very strong quiet way. I could tell she deeply loved her sisters and brothers. (Even though her brothers were so mean to her...) They definitely toughened her up. But, as a result, she was a great basketball player. We would get in wrestling matches sometimes and she would pin me down in no time! (Although there was this one time I did a push-up with her on my back! Those were my swimming days!) We never lived in the same city, so we called each other to pray together in high school and the summer of our senior year, we spent lots of time together. I would drive up to her house and we would sleep in the same bed and she would go to her Spanish class. Now, Joel enters the scene. At this time, they were secretly in love, and no one knew about it and Joel was out in California for the summer. I got suspicious when Joel called all the time just wanting to talk. I was like, "what's wrong with him?" He was love-sick. I would tell him what I was doing and sometimes I'd mention my times with Zanny. He'd start asking questions about her, and I thought, "She's fine. Why do you care?" Well, eventually he told me and I was pretty thrilled. It was a little weird seeing my brother with my close friend, but it was fine because our relationship didn't change much. Zanny just finished law school this summer AND had a baby. She's pretty amazing. She's a quick thinker and she's really smart. She has a great memory and when we were in summer school of truth, I'd always want her on my team. She knew all the Old Testament answers. I love her laugh. You hardly know she's laughing until you hear her gasping for air. Anyway, she takes good care of Joel and loves him so much and even when we don't keep up with each other, it's pretty much always the same between us.