Every Family Has Their Issues. . .

"'Friend' is such a complicated word. It can mean anything from acquaintance to sibling. They're the people you know you can count on no matter what you've done. They love you for who you are - inside and out. They know everything about you - all of your faults, dark secrets, your deepest desires, and your most admirable traits. When separated, they're all you can think about. Anyone else you know feels like they know them because they're all you can talk about. You're so comfortable when you're with them that, sometimes, it's the only time you can fall asleep. They've redefined the way you live your life - you can't remember how it used to be because you could swear you never really lived before them. People ask what you've been up to since you last met and you can only laugh as you remember the latest harebrained adventure. Tears flood your eyes when you realize that they're the only ones that really understand you. And you know, without a doubt, that they aren't going anywhere. You know that, unlike everyone else in your life, they will never order you away because you complete them as much as they complete you. They're the people you go to when the world has become too complicated, because with them everything is simple. You have your own dialect that only they understand - even if every word is English. They look into your eyes and see what no one else can see. They know when you need a ray of sunshine or how to hold you as the lightning strikes. They're the only ones who know how to pick up the pieces when your world has crumbled. The pain they inflict - though more exquisite than any you'll ever feel - is beautiful because it only brings you closer. When you find someone that fulfills this definition don't ever let them go, because people like these are few and far between."
The question is, how to you keep from losing them. This little family is just that - a family. It would be naive to expect us to be all fine and dandy all the time. No family in the history of this entire world can say that. No two people can - let alone the four of us. It is one of the only things you can count on as a human being. Now, I am, in no way, implying that you should be expecting every little detail to be a problem. You've got to live your life like every day is your last, how else do you expect to get anything done? It is just something you can't let throw you off, or the shock of it will take you over.
I don't need to go into detail about said problems. No one really needs to know - heck, I'm not sure that the four of us have the same story for all present issues. The only thing I'm trying to say is what ever stupid decisions we have or haven't made, how ever justified we felt, whatever we've said and/or done - of all of the people in the world there is no one more important than your family. Things happen. Period. Your life, thoughts, actions, relationships, EVERY LITTLE DETAIL is up to you. You can't let others dictate that for you. People - myself and everyone I love included in this - ARE STUPID. Miscommunications lead to actions which lead to hurt feelings which lead to fights that destroy people.
I am tired of implications ruining everything that makes my life worth living. I am actually going to stand back and let this one take its course, hereby relinquishing my title as the 'know-it-all-problem-solver.' Any questions asked of me will be answered in pure honesty - it is up to you to ask the questions and take my answers. I'll take the pain I know expressions might cause because it will only bring us closer. Balance won't be found unless you make a physical effort to find it. I'm not angry - just opinionated. The three people I share this blog with fulfil my definition of friend better than I think they know - I just hope they can say the same for me.

Express.....not so much.

You know guys...I just realized something.
I actually kind of hate express. I guess it was just
because I've only been in there once or twice, and have
never actually bought a ton of clothes from there, but yeah. Not
such a big fan anymore.

"My mom wants to know if you'll take an IOU?"

As Ryan -The Comic Relief- said in his blog post, planned days are the only time he and I can ever hang out. Ryan and myself have not hung out in a really long time, and the list of stuff we wanted to do just kept getting longer and longer. So finally, we decided that we would just make a day that we could hang out, so we decided on last week.

About two weeks ago, Ryan and myself were talking about the possibility of me meeting one of Ryan's best friend, Mandy. Ryan has not seen her for a couple years (I think... I may be wrong), and I know he misses her like crazy. So I told him that I would be willing to drive him to Brigham City to see her. We had our minds set on Tuesday the 28th, and we both got that day off work.

The day before our little adventure up north, I texted Ryan to make sure everything was still going according to plan. Ryan replied informing me that there was a scheduling conflict, and Mandy was not able to make time to meet us. I was disappointed because I have heard so much about Mandy, and she seems like a really awesome girl, so I wanted to meet her. But, despite the fact that our original plan failed, I was still determined to hang out with him.

So the next day I showed up at Ryan's house somewhere around noon, and I showed him a really awesome shirt from Express -The "Ryan's Hell"- that Katie had bought for me. (To give a little history, Ryan loves Express, but he won't let himself buy stuff from there because that store is super expensive.) Express was having a sale on their shirts, and they were only $20 instead of the normal $60. Ryan didn't believe me, so he went onto their website, and sure enough, they were having a sale on their shirts. After debating with himself (which is always fun to watch), Ryan finally decided to go to Express with me to buy some clothes.

Almost two hours later, Ryan and I ended up at the South Towne Mall and went straight for Express. (Yeah, that's right, Ryan Ditty was inside of Express.) We both spent some time looking at different shirts and everything. I found a couple shirts I wanted to try on, so I went into the changing rooms. I asked an employee (who, by the way, had a very peculiar lisp) if he could let me in and he opened a door for me. "So, what's your name?" he asked me.

"Tanner," I responded.

"Hi, Tanner. I'm Tim, just let me know if you need anything, honey."

I closed the door in shock, instantly I sent a text to Ryan: "So, the MALE employee over here just called me honey."

"You are such a homo magnet," Ryan replied. I laughed out loud for a couple minutes, and tried on the shirts I had. After deciding on the purple shirt (yes, I said purple), I walked out to find Ryan staring at a pair of pants. "These are one hundred dollars!" he said to me as I walked up next to him.

"You know you want to get them, Ryan. They'll look so good on you," I said, provoking him.

"You are a bad influence," Ryan muttered as he walked away from the pants, disappointed. We shopped around for a little bit longer, Ryan decided on a shirt, and we stepped up to the cash register. "Wow," Ryan said, "I didn't think I would ever walk out of this place only spending twenty one bucks." I just laughed because I could tell there were about two hundred dollars worth of other things he wanted.

We walked around the mall, looking for Banana Republic (Ryan gets a discount there through his older brother), but there wasn't one in that mall, so we decided to drive up to Fashion Place Mall. After driving up to Fashion Place, we got bored and got on the freeway heading home. However, I accidentally got on the wrong side of the road, and ended up going the totally opposite direction of where we wanted to go. So the idea poped into my mind, "Well, we could always see your cousin." Ryan was hesitant because of the long driving distance, to which I just looked at him. "Oh, that's right, Tanner, you like driving." Ryan called Ethan (his cousin) and asked Ethan what he was up to. "Oh, well call me back when you're finished," I heard Ryan say as he hung up. "Ethan's cleaning his car, and he has no plans for the night. Let's go up and surprise him," he said to me.

"Okay," I said (excitedly, of course). I then stepped on the gas and continued my way up to Farmington. After fifteen minutes, we arrived at our exit, and Ryan pointed me in the direction towards Ethan's house. After being lost for a few minutes, we finally arrived at our point of destination, just to discover that Ethan was gone. So Ryan called Ethan "Where are you?" Ryan was being totally casual, and told Ethan to call him when he got home. Then Ryan started getting really defensive (I then knew that Ethan was guessing Ryan was up there) and guilted Ethan into believing that Ryan just wanted to talk.

After driving around a little bit waiting, Ryan finally got a call from Ethan. Ryan then hung up after talking for two seconds, "He already knows we're here." So we showed up at Ethan's house and kidnapped him to Starbucks (where else would we go?). While Ryan forced Starbucks at Ethan, Ethan texted him mom informing her that he had been kidnapped. His mom answered asking what the ransom would be, to which Ryan replied that it had to be hazelnut chocolate. Then, Ethan texted some girls who were in love with Ryan. After a twenty minute long debate, Ethan convinced me to drive them both to some crazy girl's house (I don't remember her name, let's call her Mary).

We showed up to Mary's house, and Mary also had a friend (...Sarah? Yeah, let's go with that) Sarah over (another girl desperate for Ryan's love). We stood in the freezing cold outside world, and then Ethan got a phone call from his mom. "Yeah, I'm just at Mary's house," then he turned to Ryan, "My mom wants to know if you'll take an 'I-Owe-You'?"

"NO! I want my chocolate now!" Ryan demanded. We just laughed as Ethan ran off to finish talking to his mom. Then Sarah got a phone call from her friend, and she ran off leaving Ryan and myself alone. "We need to get away from here," Ryan whispered to me. I just laughed, and texted Lizzie Ostler (my fiancé), and sent "Lizzie, call me right now and yell at me for not showing up on our date."

Right as I hit send everyone was back together standing in the most awkward conversation I have ever seen. Not too long later, my phone rang. "OH CRAP!" I yelled, "I forgot about Lizzie!"

"Really? Well, we've got to go, Tanner forgot about his date with his girlfriend," Ryan informed Mary and Sarah, and we were off. Ryan, Ethan, and myself just laughed as we drove off and explained to Lizzie why I asked her to yell at me.

After that we took Ethan home, and headed to our house again to meet up with Katie. Overall, it was a pretty fun and exciting night.