Amanda Whitehead Tennison.

Amanda is the only cousin I have on my dad's side of the family. She's three years older than me and Megan, and from what I've been told, she was the only little kid that daddy was around a lot before us. Therefore, she is solely responsible for preparing my dad for raising two twin girls. Growing up, I've been told stories about how Amanda tottled behind my dad everywhere he went, even to the bathroom-which was good practice for him considering that he's shared one bathroom with three females since 1988. Amanda, Megan, and I spent many days of our childhood at Memama's house "cutting up." Cutting up mostly included stringing dull pink grandma crocheting yarn from every knob, hook, or sturdy structure to another sturdy structure in her living room. It also involved tying Memama up with the same dull pink crocheting yarn, and playing dress up with her long Sunday dress skirts. Every once in a while, Memama would let us have a little bit of her cooking flour and we would play restaurant with the pots and pans that she kept in her well house. Amanda was the first person to teach me the cooking lesson that water plus flour equals dough, which is pretty much the most foundational lesson that someone can know about cooking. I'm sure that will come in handy when I'm cooking for Jeremy. When Amanda got married a few years ago, that was the first wedding I'd ever been in as anything except for the kid that hands out the birdseed. She's returning the favor now, and has a sweet little boy that's going to be the ring bearer.

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.

Tara Morgan.

Tayrah Morgan. Who doesn't want Tara Morgan to be in their wedding? She's going to be the governor of Mississippi for Pete's sake. I met Tara at ICC, mainly through mutual friends. I supposeour friendship didn't start out on the best foot. Ashley McMillen, one of those mutual friends, chose to go to Tara's high school graduation to hear her speech over mine and Megan's speeches. I was like, "Who is this girl?!" Turns out that we would end up having a whole lot in common and becoming really good friends. The year I was bound to the Mississippi University for Women, she and the rest of apartment twelve were gracious enough to host the Columbus crew in Starkville every Tuesday night for BSU. We have eaten an ungodly amount of Abner's chicken together, taught each other awesome dance moves, and played Catch Phrase until we couldn't breathe any more for laughing so hard. She's been a really strong friend to have, given me good advice when I needed it, and I couldn't be more happy that she's going to be a part of mine and Jeremy's big day. 

Brittany Crawford Mallini.

The cousin Brittany. As far back as I can remember, Brittany has been the cousin who liked to "primp" as my mother and Aunt Celia would say. When we were little she would  put that little kid makeup on me, Megan, and Kelsey and paint our fingernails little girl pink. I also remember one time when I was probably in the sixth grade, Brittany asked me, "When are you going to start wearing makeup?!" With a comment like that coming from your older cousin, this middle schooler definitely sent her mother to Walmart the next Saturday to get a pile of Covergirl makeup. I hold Brittany directly responsible for me wearing makeup, which most certainly helped in getting Jeremy to marry me. This automatically qualifies her as a bridesmaid. She may also be responsible for inspiring the bright red lipstick that I will be wearing on the big day as well as the five inch heels that I picked out for the bridesmaids to wear.

Kayla Coward.

I actually met Kayla at a scholarship interview at the W in the spring of 2008. (Neither one of us got the scholarship) That day, she told us about these really nice apartments near the Columbus hospital that we may want to check out. My roommates and I did check out and rent one of those apartments, and lo and behold is Kayla Coward wasn't our across the road neighbor. Either the first or second time I talked to Kayla was when she was running around Waverly Complex chasing Pepper, her roommates dog, that she had let get out of their apartment. Pepper the devil dog. That initial encounter is a good analogy for Kayla's personality, because she's always doing something outrageously unusual and energetic. Even though I was only in Columbus less than a year and hated every minute of it, Kayla became one of my best friends. Our friendship came really easy because Kayla has never been shy around a single soul in her life, and she was hospitable in a place that did not have much hospitality to speak of. She's cooked for me, ate my cooking, we've taught Megan how to cook together… har har, Megan. She's witnessed many of mine and Megan's intense sisterly quarrels and helped find everything fun in Columbus to do, which isn't much. And for the record, riding the Gravatron fair ride in the KMart parking lot was not fun. Kayla is one of the kindest ladies that I've ever met, and I am blessed to have her be a part of mine and Jeremy's wedding day.

Karissa Haynes Brock.

The groom's sister is a shoe-in for a bridesmaid, but she really is one of mine and Jeremy's best friends. She's been my bed buddy in Alabama on every trip to Maw Maw Fee's house on Thanksgiving and Christmas. She's been on my side of stupid arguments with Jeremy and Cody about whether the salt or pepper shaker should have the more holes. Also, she probably had a lot to do with everything that Jeremy knew about girls when I found him, like fingernail polish, bobby pins, and mascara. I've never had a big brother, or any brother for that matter, but Karissa has graciously shared her big brother with me. She has never once complained to me about Jeremy spending countless hours in Shannon, and he has spent countless hours there instead of Eggville. For that I'm grateful. I'm also grateful that she's prepared Mrs. Paula for all of her children being married and out of the house by getting married four months before us. By June 23rd, I'm sure they'll all be ready for the weddings to be over.

Hillary Jones.

It's a thousand wonders how Hillary and I are even friends. Our relationship started out in elementary school with Hillary refusing to play with me and Megan on the Shannon Elementary playground followed by her making fun of my multi-colored polished fingernails. I eventually figured out how to take her sarcasm, and we became good friends. We also grew up together in the same youth group at Brewer Baptist Church. Actually, the first time I ever visited Brewer was because Hillary invited me when I was in the 4th grade. Soon after that, my family joined Brewer church, which has turned out to have a tremendous impact on my twenty-three year old life. The Good Lord knows He's seen us through some of the crazy things we've done as the Brewer Baptist youth group, and most of those memories include Hillary Jones. We've eaten pickled pigs feet for BBC's FearFactor, jumped off bridges into rushing river water in Eastern Tennessee, and gotten in big trouble for sneaking out late at night at GBA church camp before Hurricane Katrina blew it away. Hillary was there during the only major car accident I've ever been in when we flipped the church van down the hill… also in Eastern Tennessee. All twenty-or-so of us squeezed together in one fifteen-passenger van for the rest of that week. Those youth group days are honestly some of my fondest memories thus far in life. Hillary and I are also tennis buddies. We've endured running in cold February afternoons at Shannon Park and foot drills in the hottest part of the Mississippi summers. We've been to Jackson for the state tennis tournament at least four times, even if it was just as "hamburger eaters" as Coach Christian called the players that didn't qualify for the state tournament and just ate the free meals paid for by the tennis boosters. To be honest, Hillary probably qualified for state, and I didn't, but we were there together nonetheless.  Hillary and I have been through some seriously bad times in life together, and also celebrated some really good ones together. She 

is one of my oldest and closest friends.