It all started one fateful day in the halls of Quintard. Grace was going to be living across the hall from me and we somehow found ourselves, two strangers, at the Blue Chair for breakfast. If you know the Blue Chair, it was a long, awkward breakfast in which Grace was trying to coordinate the purchase of a bicycle over the phone with her dad. To this day, we laugh that we continued to be friends after that first, strange breakfast. In fact, many of our "firsts" are cringe-worthy but laughable stories. I could continue for hours rehashing the last eight years of friendship and the memories along the way. She was the first fan of "Hank and Olivia" and the perfect accessory to our many adventures in New Orleans and Dallas. While Grace's adventures have kept her on the go, I always manage to loop her into the next crazy idea--it helps when you manage her travel and have all of her family members basically treat you as her emergency contact. I'll always gladly be the "Dad" to our friendship.

I'll start with, Hank knew her first. Katheryn's dad and Hank's dad grew up together and they spend Thanksgiving with the Greenbergs. Everyone said Katheryn and I would get along and boy were they right. Just a few months after meeting I was loading up the cooler and playing "Wooh Girl" (we'll leave out the rest) on her bachelorette trip. We were hard, fast friends. I have never met someone who knows what I'm thinking sometimes before I know what I am thinking, which is why I put her in charge. Since we think the same, we also act the same and she tolerates my craziness or gives me a reality check when necessary. Since that first Thanksgiving, Katheryn has been my person, and I'm just lucky her husband puts up with me inserting myself into their lives (I think he appreciates the reinforcement, sometimes).

While Taylor is my sister-in-law, she was my friend first--convenient. I always say it started about fourth grade when our parents were constantly volunteering with Camelot Theatre. We did shows together, we sang in chorus together, and we played soccer together. Taylor was part of the initial discovery that you can sleep five girls in a California king size bed. When she started dating my brother it was perfect because I now had a friend built into my family, which also means she has a lot of exposure to my oddities. Over time she has really embraced the "O'Brien Women Lifestyle" and my mom and I are lucky to finally have some numbers on the boys. Oh, and she is always down for a sing along, or if you know how "extra" I can be, an entire choreographed show.

Brooke first came into my life when she bought the house across the street from my parents. She was, and maybe still is, a mystery. Over time Brooke won our hearts as family and even reps her O'Clausen shirt as a member of the tribe. Brooke leads way too cool of a life to be friends with me but I am so lucky she continues to let me hang out with her and be a part of her crazy adventures. Our love of MFM and aimlessly chatting on the phone for hours about nothing in particular have built our sisterhood. I am forever indebted to Brooke's kindness when she, without pause, agreed to help me move to Jackson, MS (details are unending but believe me, I owe her).

I don't know what I did right in a past life to deserve Maria. She always answers the phone when I call and soothes my fears that I have accidentally ended Tot's life. Maria should really be Tot's mom since she took care of her that first Saturday night Hank brought her home when I was away from Sewanee for soccer. From happy hours at the Sewanee Inn (funded by chicken wing eating competitions) to karaoke in Dallas, we've covered a lot of ground in the last eight years just to find out that post-grad life is #NotMySewanee. Thanks in advance Dr. Granello for being Tot's forever concierge vet.

It can neither be confirmed nor denied who knew Katie first. Maybe, it was Hank through the English Department and a love for Dr. Engel or, it was Olivia as a general freshman girl on a campus of less than 1,500. Regardless, she has been a part of both of our lives for a long time. Although Katie might have threatened to drink cyanide if she was not a part of the wedding party, the only real decision we had to make was "bridesmaid" or "groomswoman." Not surprisingly, I won. My favorite Katie story comes from a certain weekend where Katie needed to get out of Athens. During law school and my forty-minute commute, I became an avid caller of radio stations. This particular Friday, the radio station had tickets to "Imagine Festival," an "EDM Concert at the Atlanta Motor Speedway." I did not know what EDM was but I knew that the Atlanta Motor Speedway was close and it could be nothing but interesting. I will leave it at that--interesting.

Cooper was also part of the Quintard group though my first exposure to Cooper was a fantastic picture of her on the Chaco Website holding her broken Chaco with the letter she wrote the company about her dilemma. Not surprisingly, Cooper has gone on to pursue a business/economics/finance-oriented career. Though Hank fought me on having most of "the girlies" as he calls them as "groomswomen," Cooper was another one Hank though he had a strong argument for. At Sewanee, in Nashville, and even as distance keeps us farther apart, Cooper has remained a close friend to both of us. Many stories come to mind when I think about Cooper but the best has to be when we cut her hair. It may have been a weekend or maybe it was a weekday, but we were definitely just drinking water. The scene of the crime was Smith Hall. Cooper had been contemplating making a drastic change to her hair. After some outside sources of courage, we decided and Cooper "consented" to a haircut. To us, it looked great. Just a quick maybe nine inches off (and Cooper your hair really does look great short). But boy, there is a reason certifications are required to cut hair and no one in that room had even the prerequisites.

I could easily write, "Emily: the reason I got through law school." Emily and I met at Mercer when we were in law school. Emily is equipped with more than her great personality to make an impression--she has Sanford, her medical alert pup who is always the man of the hour. Although our interests are very different, we managed to have a few classes together and I was always impressed by Emily's ability to face challenges with a smile and good attitude. Without her constantly offering a listening ear, a lunch date, or an outline she had acquired I would not have made it through those three years. Even more exciting is getting to live vicariously through her as we share our "war stories" about our evolving careers.

When I called Megan to ask her if she would be a Bridesmaid she of course, made me specifically ask, "Will you be my Bridesmaid?" I also told her that not everyone knows what kind of ice cream to bring when your life is falling apart and I need to keep the people who do close. Most people know that Megan and I went to Sewanee together but some people don't know that Sewanee was only phase two. Megan and I first became friends in high school when our friend groups started to overlap. First we had to come to grips with the idea of sharing friends but once we were over that this dynamic duo hit its stride. To this day, Megan probably still thinks of me as the annoying younger friend who always needs a ride, and she isn't wrong. To her family, I will forever be the girl who tried to drown John Michael. See, Megan's house had a pool so naturally we congregated there to swim and lay out. Megan's house also had a younger brother, John Michael. Being the youngest child myself and having no understanding of interacting with children, when John Michael kept trying to push me in the pool I saw no issue with throwing him in the pool. As a youngest sibling myself, it was just the nature of the position that you got picked on, beat up, left out, and thrown in the pool. Apparently, two older sisters are different than two older brothers and John Michael was "injured." To this day I get teased about hurting "sweet" John Michael.

My queen, my president, my neighbor, my travel buddy, my bedtime story teller, my friend. It is a privilege to get to call Dade County High School's and Sewanee: The University of the South's Homecoming Queen my friend. I'll chalk up her concern about dating "the English major with the really low voice" (Hank) to a fear of the unknown. Molly and I are both from small, rural towns in Georgia. We have more in common than meets the eye, but pay attention to the two of us tearing up any city from Dallas to Paris and you will quickly see that there is something to Georgia girls. My favorite (perhaps PG) story with Molly happened in New Orleans. Hank's apartment has one bathroom and, having lived in a sorority house with a similar bathroom situation and more girls to share it with, as I was showering Molly was brushing her teeth. As she brushed her teeth she accidentally gagged herself, and got sick. My only response was to start crying as we both reminisced on the many mornings in the Theta Pi House where the same or similar incidents occurred regularly as four girls tried to share one bathroom. It is bonds like this that withstand the test of time.

Jemi lived down the hall from me in Quintard my freshman year. Grace, Jemi, and I were regularly occupying the second floor "sober" common room in Quintard. While the location evolved to the French House, McCrady (McCrazy), or the Women's Center, the three of us were regularly mixing a perfect storm of procrastination, pre-gaming, and studying to get us through our four years at Sewanee. Twos company, threes a crowd never applied with this group because someone always needed the swing vote, and Jemi and Grace usually prevailed against "Dad" (me). Despite not having made it to Richmond to visit (sorry Jemi), we always find a way to plan fun trips and regular spells of phone tag.

If you asked Olivia and Alli circa 2013 if they anticipated even attending the wedding of the other the answer would have been no. As members of dorm staff in the brand new, predominately freshman dorm, Alli and I had our differences. We often laugh about that year and what exactly caused us to be at odds. However, we quickly learned the error of our ways as we got out Smith Hall! It is no surprise that Alli is excelling in her psychology PhD program because she always has the best advice as a friend. Her guidance, advice, and friendship is invaluable.