Jana Gets Hitched!

“Maybe some women aren't meant to be tamed. Maybe they just need to run free til they find someone just as wild to run with them.”  - Carrie Bradshaw

I have been very fortunate in my life to have made some amazing friends.  Some of them are still in my life and some came in for a while and we have lost touch but still they have played a role in shaping who I am today.  Jana is my very oldest friend in the world and I am very lucky to have her in my life.  

 

 

Jana and I met in pre school at Brookwood Baptist in Birmingham, Alabama.  We were the very best of friends as very young girls.  We did everything together- including getting matching cabbage patch kid nightgowns for sleep overs.  She was the first friend I had a sleepover with.  You always remember your first best friend and sometimes, if you are very lucky, when you are about to turn 34 you can say that person is still in your life now.  Many people in Mobile can say that they have been best friends with someone since before they can really remember, but it is very different to have a person so close to you when neither of you is from Mobile and you both ended up here by chance.  

 

 

After Jana moved to south Alabama my family relocated to Baltimore, Maryland and we lost touch.  We ran into each other twice while in college at The University of Alabama but didn't really reconnect at that time.  THEN........... I ran into Barron one night at Soul Kitchen.  We got to talking about how he had been and he mentioned his girlfriend.  I asked what her name was and he said Jana.  "Jana Williston?," I asked because there are about as many people named Jana and pronounced John-ah as there are named Scootie.  Where is she!  And the rest is history.  We reconnected years ago and have been close ever since.  

 

 

Jana now is much like Jana in preschool.  She makes her own rules, does what she wants and stays crazy in the process.  That's what makes her so fun.  She is wild and in a very good way and very head strong.  And Barron is perfect for her.  He knows her and loves her for it.  They have been in each others lives for years and years.  And their story is a wonderful one.  Not always picture perfect and sometimes crazy but through it all they have grown up, grown together and found each other again- for good.  I could not be happier for them.  They make sense and keep each other grounded.  They compliment each other in the most wonderful ways.  That's what makes them work so well together.  They almost married once before and did not.  They went their own way for a couple of years and then came back together.  This time for good.  

 

 

The ceremony was beautiful and simple- much like Jana.  Not a lot of pomp and circumstance.  Just the two of them, their families that play such an important role in both of their lives, and their closest friends.  In a small catholic chapel on Mobile Bay they said their "I Do's" and made it official.  She could not have been more beautiful.  As soon as she started her walk down the isle on her brothers arm I began to tear up a little.  My oldest friend was getting married and I was fortunate enough to be there, after all these years.  And now thinking about it as I write this I am tearing up again knowing that one of my very best friends is right where she was meant to be- with Barron. 

 

The reception was one of the most fun I have attended.  Held at the bay house of a good friends parents, the setting was perfect.  On the lawn as the sun was setting we enjoyed wonderful food by Bay Gourmet , the musical styling of the karaoke dj and a plethora of cocktails.  We danced all night- or at least until 10:30 when we had to go home to kids.  It was such a reflection of the couple-  and one helluva good time!

 

The Partridge family is very lucky to have such a wonderful, strong, beautiful and loyal daughter in law and the Williston family lucky as well.  The baby of the family will be well taken care of by a wonderful man that loves her.