In honor of my friend Jen

My friend Jenny was amazing.

She was everything I wanted to be. Beautiful. Smart. Funny. Brave.Tough. Assertive but somehow quiet too.
Also, I loved her truck. She drove a kick ass truck. She was a total bad ass.

 She grew up in a small town but wanted to escape and find her big adventure.

I have great memories of my time with Jenny. We worked together by day at JCPenney, and at night Jenny, another girl and I would drive around, go swimming and go to parties (to get them STARTED- because they did when she got there).
 One summer, in the drive thru at Arby's she said to the guy at the window,

 Would you give us a shit-ton of Arby's sauce please? We never get as many as we need.

Window guy says,

Just exactly how much is a 'shit-ton'?  (here he actually air quoted the word shit-ton)

Without missing a beat Jenny replied,

41. A shit-ton is 41.

Had she not been beautiful  and completely serious, I am positive that we would have driven away with three.  The guy actually counted out 41 packets. To this day, if someone asks me for a shit-ton of something, they get 41.  Sometimes I am sad that this is one of my best memories of Jenny. I wish we could have made more.

Another time, while doing the dreaded inventory at JCPenney, Jenny got the job of counting underwear. I was counting purses nearby (lucky). I hear her squeal in delight. All excited she says,

Oh my gosh!! I didn't know we carried Calvin Klein! I LOVE Calvin Klein! When did we start carrying Calvin Klein? (the whole time thoroughly fondling this pair of undies like you would any newly discovered treasure)

To which I replied,

 WE DON'T!!

Turns out someone had stolen our undies and replaced them on the hanger with theirs.
I have never seen a pair of undies fly so far so fast in my life. She was never made to do inventory in the women's department again.

Once I made out with a guy I know she liked and bragged to her about it later. I didn't even really like this person but I was being catty because she always got the attention. I wish I could take that back. If she were alive today I would offer to let her make out with my husband so we could call it even.

But she's not.
 
She was a wonderful daughter, sister, and an amazing friend.
I am lucky I got to know her.

She did get out of that small town she grew up in. She did find her great adventure-and she was never happier.
 Jenny was killed in the line of duty in Detroit in 2004. You can read more here.

If I could -I would tell her that these past 6 years, I have missed her a shit-ton. I think she would totally understand what I mean.