Viri's Maternity Session

Last week I posted a sneak peek on Instagram of my friend Viri's summer maternity session. This beautiful woman is one of my faves. She's funny and caring and has turned out to be a great wife and mom to her two-year-old son. But turning back the clock a bit... she was the girl who would have to get moved to the other side of the classroom so our poor teachers could keep us from talking. She's the girl I made homecoming mums with, who gave me rides to school before I had a license, who I made 1 a.m. summer drives to the gas station with for snacks, and who came over to swim and talk about boys and life with me all dang day. A few years later, she was the girl who made drives up to visit me in college, who I later apartment-shopped with and roomied with, who I rented movies with just to sit on the couch in front of the menu screen for 5-6 hours because we couldn't stop talking long enough to actually hit 'play.'

I don't know how or when it happened, but somewhere along this nine-year-timeline, we suddenly found ourselves no longer teenagers. Maybe it was the punches life threw our way. It's probably just normal to look back and wonder how in the world you're not a kid anymore.... But as Viri will attest, my teenage years were fun. They were also full of first heartbreaks and big decisions and emotions gone wild. And I'm so glad that I had a friend like Viri, whose wisdom (at a whole 11 months older!) got me through it.

Today, it doesn't matter if we don't talk for a month or see each other for three. We still talk for hours on end as if no time has passed. About nothing, and about everything. And I'm so thankful that she's still getting me through.

Well. I did not mean to write a diary post here (or to make myself cry) but it's milestones like these that make me think back on what life's about. Viri is expecting her first daughter - a girl! A girl who will be the luckiest. Because one of the most precious gifts that Viridiana has ever given me is teaching me how a girl and her mom can be best friends. Because she was best friends with hers. And I know that the precious baby girl she's cooking in her belly right now will be her new best friend very soon. And for that I'm also very thankful, because she deserves it.

Rowlett maternity session by Dallas birth photographer Cristy Angulo

Ps. Is she not just the cutest edgy mom with her asymmetrical undercut and tattoo? She's got another piece on her side that you can see in some of the pics below!