Boxes and shrimp cocktail, part 1.

As I have mentioned before, my husband and I met while working at Dorothy Lane Market through our college years. When we weren’t in class, we were working, and when we weren’t working, our social circle was still pretty much DLM.

My best friend Morgan only worked there during the summers, so the rest of the time it was just Chuck and our friend Michael. The result? I spent most of my time hanging out with two dudes, unless Morgan was in town to round out the group.

Then I met Addy. She had taken some time off college to help her aunt and grandmother, which endeared her to me from day 1. Away from the comfort of her college town, Addy took a job in the Dorothy Lane Market bakery.

You would never have known that Addy was a new girl, in a new town. She was absolutely sunshine from the moment you met her. The bakery was stressful, especially during the holidays when she joined us, and it probably was not the easiest place to make friends.

I still remember the first full shift we worked together. It was near closing time, and we were restocking the case. Addy had a box and a box cutter, and she was unloading some kind of not-good-for-you goodness. As she dragged the edge across the thick brown packing tape it made this plastic unzipping sound. For whatever reason, Addy looked at us—a group of surly teenage girls—and said, “I LOVE that sound.”

Just going to tell the truth: The other girls looked at her like she was completely bizarre. Not me. I loved it. It was probably one of the most random first things you could hear from someone, but it was perfectly Addy at that time: quirky, honest, and completely unconcerned with what someone else might think.

Addy and I became the fastest of friends after those first few shifts. We went on road trips and saw concerts. She bonded with Chuck and Michael and the four of us had more fun in that first summer than we may ever have again. We were just 20 years old, and nothing in life was too serious.

Then, Addy decided it was time to go back. When she left us for college at the end of the summer, I was heartbroken. Even though she was only an hour or so away, it seemed further when she was always so close.

Life picked up again that fall, but we had phone calls, and long voice mails, and occasionally we would visit. It was still the four of us, we were just further away.

Then, Addy met a boy. And despite our hopes, we were worried…

Check back next Monday, for the rest of the story.