The Story Behind Our Girl's Weekend

Hello Everyone,

Kristine, if you ever read this... get the tissues ready. This is my BIG PUBLIC THANK YOU... FOR EVERYTHING! (Are you blushing yet?)

A trip to Savannah isn't even the tip of the iceberg when it comes to me thanking you for being a true friend.

EVERYONE... this woman is an absolute ANGEL! We met in 2010 in the police academy. Our PT (Physical Training) instructor paired us together for being within the same weight class. She fireman carried me (if you've never done it, it can be difficult) during drills. She encouraged me to keep moving when I've wanted to give up.

We were instructed in the academy to get to know our partner's as much as we did ourselves. All the weirdness that it would take the average person to get acquainted as friends can take months, we had to do it in less than a few weeks. Boom! Hi, how are you? We needed to learn the respect and discipline; remain partners within training and out on the road. Never leave your partner's side. Take a bullet for each other, if need be. And we would (still, to this day).

Within 6 months of training, we would soon be hooked into each other's lives for good. While we both graduated and continued to pursue our dreams in becoming police officers, I was in a car accident 6 months after graduation. A car accident damaging enough to destroy my dreams forever. The average person would have shrugged that off and tossed a perfectly good friendship out the window...but, Kristine stood by me and encouraged me to find the loophole I desperately wanted.

Unfortunately, after 5 years of physical therapy and various doctor's visits. I was unable to find a loophole that would let me continue to pursue that dream. During this time, I also had a son and became a single mother. Both of which, she stood by and encouraged me to move on with my life and raise my son without hesitation.

Today, May 6th, 2016, I booked a 3 night vacation with my settlement money received from the car accident as my way to thank her for everything she has done. She could have left and ignored our friendship ever existed, but she didn't. She held her ground and stayed strong! Encouraged me to do more than what I thought was possible.

The backbone I needed to find in myself, I found through her encouragement over the years.

Thank you for being there when you didn't have to. Thank you for helping me out of my shell and finding my true self. Thank you for being my partner through all of it!

I would love to help her more, but this is all I'm capable of at the moment.

Why was this posted several weeks after being written?

While she knew about the trip, there were other surprises I had scheduled during the trip that I didn't want to ruin.

Kristine, how many tissues did you use?

Goodnight!

~Meredith