The Call of the Wyoming Wild

A few years ago, I moved into a new apartment at Maple Valley and little did I know that life as I knew it would be changed forever. I met the two boys across the hall, Mikol and Joe, and we became fast friends. We were always together and no matter what we were doing, whether we were playing sports, hot tubbing, watching movies, cooking dinner together, eating hotwings, bowling, or tubing down Beaver Mountain in a plastic swimming pool, we were definitely enjoying ourselves. Well, now everything will be changed because Mikol has abandoned us for the Call of the Wyoming Wild to go to Grad School in Laramie. While I am proud of him for taking this opportunity, I have quickly realized that a little piece of my heart will now be in Wyoming. So, here are a few of the many highlights of why we will always be friends:

• The infamous road trip to Cali for Spring Break: staying in Reno, getting lost on the way to Ptown, Jane telling Mikol his jokes just aren't funny, driving all around the Bay Area in the Green Jeep, Flat Joe, the Oakland Temple trips, waiters, Alcatraz, riding the Trolley, the beach and a Wyoming boy meets the undertow, and when someone drove the Stratus like a racecar- having to pull over because someone else was turning green and needed to take a closer look at Truckee. Although there are many other highlights from this trip, the most fun was when we went to my Dad's car store and got to play in all of the fun cars.


• There was the time that Mikol decided to teach me how to ski and I trusted him to not let me be hauled off in an ambulance. He did great and it even turned into a pretty good Sunday School story about someone who's name starts with an A and ends in nneBarlow. And an extra bonus: I am now a good skiier! Seriously!


• No matter what time day or night, I always knew that I could call Mikol for anything (whether we WERE friends or not). He fixed the Jeep, hung things on the wall, moved anything heavy, was always up for driving, didn't pout too much when I would beat him at bowling, and most importantly knows most of my secrets and never tells.

So, while I will be a little mad at Wyoming because it is too far away from me, I am always glad when my favorites are happy and doing what is best for them. And now it will be the start of a new era, although nothing will ever replace the combination of a Wyoming-ite, Californi-anne and South Korean!