Sunday, March 27, 2011

Dinner with the Andersons

There are certain times in your life that you met someone
 and you instantly know that you are going to be friends forever. 
 That is exactly how I felt when I met Lisa Anderson, almost 30 years ago, 
when our husbands were both going to dental school in San Francisco. 
 She was so clever and creative and such a great cook.
 She shared her crafty ideas and delicious recipes with me.  
I was in awe of her organizational skills and basically loved to follow her around
 with a notebook and pen and jot down all her clever ideas.
She was (and is) one of those people that "has it all together", 
so capable of accomplishing any task that she was asked to do. 
 But the thing I remember most about our friendship 
was that Lisa was so kind to me and always included me.
She threw a baby shower when I was pregnant with Kimber
 and decorated her house with adorable hand drawn pictures of potted plants
and seedling packages that she illustrated.  
I saved each and everyone of them because they were just so cute!
About 5 years ago, when Kimber and Brett were engaged, I sent out their wedding announcement.
I get a phone call from Lisa, who tells me that she can't believe that my Kimber is marrying Brett Crandall.
You see, when Lisa's son, Rhett was recruited to Yale to play basketball, 
they went to the branch in New Haven and the first person that came up and greeted them was Brett.
Lisa said that he was so kind and told them how much he loved it at Yale 
and how wonderful it was and convinced Rhett that Yale was the place for him.
So Rhett signed at Yale and soon left on his mission before he even started school.
Since Rhett wasn't attending Yale when Brett and Kimber were dating,
we never made the connection.
So when Lisa opened up the wedding invitation 
and saw that Kimber was marrying the young man that helped influence Rhett, she was excited. 
What a small world!
Now Rhett is attending Yale, playing basketball and studying hard.
He comes down to NYC and stays with Kimber and Brett whenever he gets a chance.
They have become dear friends and always looks forward to Rhett's visits.
Recently, Brett and Kimber arranged for the Young Men in their ward 
to attend the Yale vs. Columbia basketball game to watch Rhett play.
Afterwards, Rhett met with the boys and spoke to them
 about how important it is to go on a mission and what it meant to him in his life.
He did such a great job and I know that Kimber and Brett appreciated the time that he took to meet with the boys.
After all these years, Lisa and I have stayed in close touch, 
so I was excited when she call earlier in the week 
and said that they would be in Sacramento and would like to get together.
Her son, McKay was playing in the state BB championship game
 at Arco Arena on Saturday (which they won! YAY!) 
and we went to my favorite Crush 29 to celebrate the victory!
Afterwards, Brooke and McKay headed over to the high school dance 
and they had good time.
I think another Holt/Anderson friendship is beginning.

1 comment:

hayley said...

aw, how sweet is that illustration! what a great idea :) and my mouth is watering thinking about crush 29. maybe i'll plan a week of eating at my favorite restaurants for my homecoming? crush 29, fats, carmelitas, plutos, panera...yum!