Memphis, May 15, 1:02 P.M.

I have had an amazing time with Hannah! Her boyfriend, Andy, and she picked me up from O’Hare and we drove out to their place in the Rogers Park section of Chicago. It’s not in the middle of downtown or near the lake or anything…it’s in a quieter little section of the city. I like her apartment. It’s very…Hannah. J Which means there are dance pictures on every wall and the shelves are filled with excellent movies. We got to catch up for a while and then met up with Ethan and Vicky at Pickwick’s, an adorable diner-type place. It was so random (and a little weird!) to have my Landmark world and my Alabama world collide in a place like Chicago, but it was so fun! After dinner, Hannah, Andy, and I went around town taking pictures by fountains and the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Yeah, if you didn’t know already, they moved it to Chicago. J It was a very silly, very awesome night.

It was so good to get to catch up with Hannah. She never ceases to amaze me. Her life is not easy; it never has been. It seems like she encounters one obstacle after another in nearly every facet of her life, especially her health. She has had to stop dancing, which is her true passion, to try to recover from a myriad of health issues which don’t seem to be getting all that much better. But as she constantly tackles these very frustrating hurdles, she really has kept an excellent attitude. She seems optimistic and happy. She is so open-minded about where her life might go…she has no demands of it, but rather is simply looking to see what will come. And with whatever life hands her at one moment or another, she runs—she works really hard to make the money she needs and is just…doing life. It’s amazing to see one of the kids I’ve known since 6^th grade actually “doing” life. Maybe that’s because I’m stuck in college world and the real world and the people in it seem foreign to me. But it makes me proud to see how strong she is and who she is becoming.

I have GOT to get back up to Chicago to see her more often. We had so, so much fun talking and laughing and being the complete dorks we will never not be.

I’m waiting now for my flight to Kansas City to see Claire! We’re going to explore KC…museums and parks and such. J I’m excited.