Purple Valley: I secretly call her "Ally the Amazing"

She would beg to differ about that name, but I really think she is.

I had the great pleasure of seeing my friend, Ally, yesterday when she surprised me with a visit. She was home for Christmas - something she does not get to do very much - be at "home" - and she took out her time to see me. We spent 3 great hours chattin' away like we are so good at doing. She is one of those friends who you don't see for months and months and then when you get together, it's like you hadn't been apart. She is the best.

I have talked about Ally before, but I just couldn't go without mentioning her again. She and I met quite a few years ago at one of my first weddings - Ryan and Teresa - in Springfield. Ally and I sat at the same table. She was taking a lot of candid pictures. We started talking and we just clicked. We are so alike in so many ways.

Turned out, she was in the military with Teresa (Teresa, btw, who is extraordinary herself - been in the military for a dozen years now - I think?, graduated a couple years ago from med school and now is a wonderful doctor in Indianapolis. Her hubby, Ryan, also a doctor. Again, amazing people!), and also with my best friend, Natalie, so they all knew each other well. My thought was "wow", this isn't just a coincidence, I was brought together with Ally for a reason.
Ally and I kept in touch. I asked her a couple years ago if she would want to start assisting me in my weddings. She was all for it and so she joined forces with me. We did one year together and we had the best time EVER. She shot lots of pictures herself, helped me pose, did lots of the dirty work, but we also had a great bonding experience. There is quite a loy of down time with weddings so we got to know each other quite well. Each Saturday we couldn't wait to have our double cheeseburgers from Mc D's and we spent a lot of time gabbing about our favorite TV show, Alias, and how we wish we looked like, and had the body of, Jennifer Garner. We had a great time together.

By the end of our first year shooting together, she found out she was going to flight school. So she continued on in her military endeavours and today is the amazing woman she is --- flying C-17's out of Charleston, SC. C-17's - a huge aircraft. She makes frequent trips to Germany, middle eastern countries, Alaska, Japan, and so on . . . This is her job. And these are a few of her amazing pictures. Most of them pictures that she has shot, and if she hasn't shot them, she is in them!

Thanks, Ally, for our visit. Hope to see you when you fly in to visit me in Miami!! And you can bring "Jeff", k? (ha, ha!)