With Bloggery Comes Clarity?: For Mayleenda and Matty

Melinda has had the distinct displeasure of having been stuck with me since we were eight years old. For anyone thinking, "Aw, that's so cute," you might want to hold that thought. The story goes like this. Once upon a time in the third grade, Melinda and I were at a kids' church function coloring a banner that said, "Jesus Loves Me," and in typical Melinda fashion, she was in her own little artsy crafty world...which basically means she was hogging the markers and didn't really care how badly I needed the blue one. So, in typical Maggi fashion, I took my necklace, a large plastic heart charm filled with glitter and water, and I said, "If you don't give me that marker, I'm going to turn you into a frog. Don't MAKE me say the magic word!" Needless to say, I got the blue marker. But what I got that day extends far beyond the realm of Crayola because, that day, I also got a best friend who has stuck by me through thick and thin, loved me despite my many flaws and frog threats (and don't think that doesn't STILL come up from time to time), someone who has laughed with me, laughed AT me, cried with me, gotten into LOTS of trouble with me, forgiven me when I probably didn't deserve it, given it to me straight when I did deserve it (and always followed with, "Hey, I'm just sayin'...), someone who has always been there when I needed her, and who I know always will be. Matty, you're a very lucky guy because I know she'll always be there for you, too--that's just who Melinda is. She'll probably never get around to sharing her markers though, so these are for you.