Stat and I have known each other since 7th Grade (I'm not going to disclose how long ago that was, but trust me when I say it was a while back) - in fact, she was one of my best friends. She, our friend Jamie and I were inseparable for most of 7th and 8th Grade. When we hit 9th Grade, Stat went into cheer leading and Jamie and I went into tennis so inevitably we sort of drifted. But what makes her upcoming trip to Japan so awesome is the fact that Japanese language sort of reunited us. Our senior year in high school, we had Japanese Class together and we partnered up for our big assignment which was to make a video speaking all Japanese. I can't recall exactly but I think we were making a travel video so we did sort of a circle island tour of Oahu, stopping at some interesting attractions. I remember my cousin Sara drove us around and did the videotaping. We stopped at the original Kua 'Aina on the North Shore (well back then it was the only Kua 'Aina) and I have a distinct memory of us jumping out of a canoe at the entrance of the Polynesian Cultural Center and saying something in Japanese. In any case, it was the best video EVER! I am incredibly sad that neither one of us has a copy of that video...watching it would've reminded me that I actually could speak Japanese fairly well (which is no longer the case).
So continuing on, we both went off to college and lost touch for a bit but reunited at some point during college (she at BYU in Provo and me at the University of Puget Sound in Washington) and went on a road trip to Canada one Thanksgiving. On that trip we got our first tattoos together and had some adventures at the Canada-Washington border which I won't get into here. As it goes in life, we lost touch again for awhile, but 4 years ago her brother and my sister gave us a gift which, although they are no longer together, will keep us in touch with each other probably for the rest of our lives ---our beautiful niece.
Anyway, I am very proud of my friend and her success and I encourage anyone that has the time to set up an appointment. I know her appointments are filling up fast, so hurry. Here's a link to more information about the Spirit Tour and about Staton Ann in general ( Spirit Tour ). Enjoy!!!
