Day 231, October 7th

It is hard to believe it's been a whole year since Stephanie passed away.  It really is crazy how fast a year can fly by.  This whole week had been pretty hard, so I was expecting to have a tough day Friday, but surprisingly felt pretty okay.  Rachel text me and asked how I was, and said she was experiencing the same thing.  
Ryan and I started the day by hiking Squaw Peak, and I'd like to say it's because Steph and I used to hike it every week, but that's just not the case.  To our defense, we did hike often together, and hiked Squaw Peak last spring while she was waiting to hear if she had been accepted into the Peace Corps.  She had gone hiking with her brother's girlfriend and felt out of shape, so we went to get in some practice hikes before the next hike she would take with Cece.  We hiked the mountain, and sat at the top talking about how crazy it will be when she is in the Peace Corps, not seeing each other for a couple years, and what if she met her future husband, and African King of something exciting like that.
So anyway, Ryan and I went out and hiked and I told him all the crazy nonsense I just babbled about on here!
That evening, Steph's parents had an open house for her family and friends to get together and remember our friend.  It was a great night catching up with everyone, and telling classic Steph stories.
The day as a whole, was pretty okay.  I think the hardest part was knowing that I don't have a friend like Steph anymore.  I thought about what she would have done on this day if it were another friend of mine.  She was very good about doing things for friends who were down.  She made me a break up box once, with all sorts of goodies to "help" me through a break up, so I knew if she could have, she would have been here for me today, doing something to cheer me up.  And maybe she was, which is why both Rachel and I weren't all that sad today.