The One When I Ride-or-Die

This is my 3^rd attempt writing a post on 2017. And even that sentence took a few trials before getting it, or accepting it was plain and bland, but hopefully still enough to make you want to read.

The previous attempts consisted of picture collages, what my faith taught me this year (it was the word of the year after all), my semi-health scare and a few attempts to be funny. None of it really stuck, but if you scroll to the end, you'll see my attempts. 

We were sitting in an office, me and two coworkers, discussing the previous weekends activities and without going into too much detail, our activities had landed us a visit to the emergency room. My coworker, who is new to the office, but knows a good amount of my personal life, quickly identified, “wow, you really are a ride-or-die.”

Now, for those of you that don’t know, a “ride-or-die”, according to urbandictionary.com “is a conjunction of the phrases ‘ride it out’ and ‘die trying’.  In other words, you’re down for whatever, even if it kills you.” This, my friends, is how my 2017 went.

Before you go off and say that sounds really intense, let me assure you it’s not as badass as it sounds, and although every occasion left me sleep deprived, it was worth every snooze lost.

Stepping into a new position at work always requires you to ride-or-die on some level. It’s the sink or swim moment. The moment where you have to prove that you not only earned the position, but also that you can make it in the position. Eleven months later and they haven’t let me go, so I think I made it okay. *This ride-or-die is important, because it's for yourself. If you can't rally for yourself, you'll have a hard time rallying for others. 

Then there’s the ride or die with family. Sometimes it’s a forced ride, but you ride it, because the alternative doesn’t have quite the same view. Let me tell you, I rode my cousin’s college graduation until I almost did die, literally (well so I thought, but I’m okay). A self-proclaimed favorite cousin, I did not miss a beat with the late nights in New Orleans and made most of the early morning calls to have breakfast with my Grandma.

Cousin Annie's graduation dinner. Proud Granny pictured center

I have an actual love-hate relationship with the ride or dies for friend celebrations, whether it’s for a birthday party, a bachelorette party, or just a girl’s night out. On the one hand, I have an extreme case of FOMO (fear of missing out), but on the other, I have a strict bedtime of 9:30pm. Sometimes I make the conscious decision to ride or die, and lose a little sleep. Sometimes this is chosen for me. I’m not sure why I’m chosen to be the ride-or-die other than the fact that I do always rise to the occasion.

Take for example a friend’s bachelorette/going away party on some random Friday night in September. Most everyone had to work the next day, a Saturday. Since I had just finished my workweek, and could sleep in the next day, I was the chosen one. But rising to the occasion is more than just staying out late to keep your friend company, while she celebrates new seasons in her life. It requires a certain amount of rally- or choosing that no matter what happens, you’re going to have a good time. That particular night, we went to one of my not so favorite places to dance, I was chosen to drive us there. But I made a conscious decision to choose to have fun, because of who I was with, because of what we were celebrating, and because no one likes a party pooper anyways. It turned to be one of my favorite nights with my girls of the year.

My friendship with them is weird, but I'm okay with it. We did a lot of ride-or-die in 2017.

Other ride or dies consisted of a 2am wake up call that followed a 25-hour streak of being awake and was put on bridesmaid duties. Or the time that I drove back to get a forgotten wedding dress for the big day, missed the rehearsal, and drove to the destination in traffic. Or the trip to the ER for a friend, that resulted in going to bed at 4am and had to make a turkey the next day for another set of friends. Rally all day people. Rally. All. Day. 

One of my favorite parts of 2017 was the ride-or-die moments. Not because they produced some of the most fun and sometimes epic stories, but because it was a choice I made. A true ride-or-die, doesn’t just show up physically, although that’s a big part of it, but they actually show up. I made a choice in each of these examples, regardless of how tired or how under the weather, or “over it” I was feeling, and trust me I was feeling it, to show up and be present for my friend, for my coworker, for my family.

And it helped me recognize the ride or dies in my life: the ones that baked me a cake on my birthday, the ones that pushed me physically, mentally, spiritually, the ones that let me move in for a period of time, the ones that moved my entire life from one house to the next, the ones that drove me to doctors appointments and procedures, the ones that cried with me, the ones that continuously opened their home every time I visited California, these are my ride-or-dies. You know who you are.

Here's a few for entertainment purposes, and because they make me smile, and because I can:

<3 Stephanie sometimes says the funniest things. She's a keeper. They all are. 

Ride-or-dies for life. Seriously. (Jenny, the dog, not pictured)

When I'm sleep deprived, and excited, and can't believe this is my real life.
Amazing photography by the incredible Emma Hopp
Ps. how gorgeous are the flowers, and that dress, and the photo and my beautiful Rae Rae?!?!!!

The most surprising, and yet most welcomed, ride-or-die of 2017. 

*some* of my ride-or-dies from this year. not all pictured

If you don’t have a ride-or-die, you should get yourself one, or become one for someone else. It’s mostly exhausting, but its worth every minute, you get some fun stories, and best of all, you build some of the most amazing friendships.

Happy New Year. Here’s to all you ride-or-dies out there.

xo auntie e