Carlye Carpenter.

 

The first time I met Carlye was at ICC's Baptist Student Union, when she drew a large crowd by displaying her unusual talent of screeching just like the taradactyls I saw on television as a child. First impression: "This girl is a weird-ohhhh." We hung out just a little bit at ICC… I'm not sure if that was despite of or because of the taradactyl thing. We really didn't become good friends until we both transferred to Mississippi State. Jeremy and Carlye's boyfriend, Hutch, were roommates in Starkville, which is a story in itself, so we were bound to interact a lot. Carlye, Hutch, and myself were also placed in the same family group through State's BSU, which I suppose flung us into a close friendship. One of my favorite things about Carlye is that she's always up for anything. A couple of summers ago, six of my friends and I, including Carlye, got a wild hair and took an all-girl road trip across six of the southeastern United States. We did everything from crack crab legs in Tybee Island, Georgia to white water raft in North Carolina to line dance at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. Of course Carlye was in the middle of it all, pitching tents like a champ, driving unfamiliar roads for hours and hours at a time, and roasting some wonderful burnt hotdogs over the campfire. That is definitely one of those trips that I'll show pictures of to my grandkids and tell stories it about forever. Carlye's a real sweet girl. One day during the semester in Starkville when Megan was very very sick with her stomach issues, I got locked out of my apartment because Megan had to go to the emergency room to get an IV. Carlye graciously let me cry and nap on her couch and consoled my hurt feelings.

Sometimes it's good to have couple friends. Hutch and Carlye get that it's not corny or lame for Jeremy to open my car door, and they get that it's good to talk to each other every night even if we have nothing more to say to each other than "Hey…umm…I don't have anything new to tell you…just wanted to hear your sweet voice." Not that Jem and me ever do that, of course… When us four are together, the boys can talk about ESPN and us girls can talk about shoes. It makes things functional. You get what I'm saying? Couple friends are good to have, and they are an excellent friend couple.