Natalie-Lovers

I miss Natalie already. She came to visit me this weekend and we had the best time. She loves coming to Omaha, and I love it when she comes. It gives me an excuse to visit places I've never been, like the Durham Western Heritage Museum, which we went to on Saturday. They have all these old train cars and Natalie was so cute running through them, asking me to take her picture by nearly everything. They're goofy photos to fit us goofy girls.


Natalie also loves coming to Omaha because she loves my Omaha friends. I'm not saying that she doesn't love my college friends, BUT she has a soft spot for the Omaha people because, as she pointed out, they don't really know Nancy.

In college, Nancy was around more often than Natalie. Natalie was in high school and was busy doing the high school thing. But Nancy was littler. And cuter. And just so darn endearing. Natalie was nice and all, but harder to get to know.

But then I moved here. At first, Natalie lived in Sioux City, so she was here quite a lot. Even after she moved back home, she's come far more often than Nancy has. A lot of people here don't even realize I have a littler sister because she just hasn't been here much. And so Natalie flourishes in this Nancy-free zone. She doesn't have the "competition" of the cuteness that is Nancy Lyn. She is her own wild and crazy self and my friends here love her.

Friday night, we went over to Jonelle and Charlotte's (they're big fans of Natalie). I don't know what we were talking about, but somehow Christina Capecchi came up. Natalie was in the kitchen and yelled, "Who?" I repeated the name and she says with the straightest of faces, "Oh. She's a Nancy-lover," with an air of pretend disdain. Of course she loves Christina, but she also knows she can't compare with the Nancy in her eyes!

I miss Natalie already. And so does Jaime, apparently, who was home sick today and watched several episodes of "Grey's Anatomy" with her while I was at work. Jaime's a Natalie-lover.