I have been extremely fortunate in the last year to have met some of the most wonderful people in this world!

First, I had the distinct pleasure of meeting our dear Jedi Master Mina! She quickly became my best friend in the world! She is kind, giving, caring, fun-loving, snarky (of course) and the best friend anyone could hope for. Love you, Mina!

I then had the opportunity and pleasure (not to mention a little luck) of getting to attend CIV!! I finally got to meet most of my Crew, including Granny-Wan, ViagoAngel, Michelle68, JediPrincess77, PadmeSkywalker77, JediLily, Anakinside1, EwanandHaydenFan5, Momof2YoungPadawan, Amidalooine, and JediMelindaWolf! They were all absolutely wonderful!! On top of that, I got to meet DJMaul, Nob01, and Darth T-Bone!! To top it all off, there was greenandwhitejedi, The Stooge, Gencrs, Rainbow Droideka, Brooklooineghost, Rivet Head, Sol Kassar, GrandAdmiralSean, Jawa Joey, Punk Leia and many others! I apologize to anyone that I have inadvertently left out. What a fantastic group of bloggers we have here!! GWJ actually brought me a gift from Tokyo where he had traveled just before coming to CIV! He brought me a small model of the Millennium Falcon that he had found there! It is awesome and I love it!! Thanks so much, my friend!

Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I had the honor of getting to meet our own GalacticBabe!! What a babe she is, too!!

GB is absolutely wonderful!! She has a very nice family, cute grandkids and a lovely laugh! We had so much fun!!

I was being sent to Oklahoma for work and I knew she lived somewhere there, so I emailed her and asked if there was anyway we could possibly get together. She let me know that where I was going to be was about 3 hours from where she lives (ugh!), but that if I was willing, we could meet halfway! I thought that was a wonderful plan!!! So, we worked out all the details.

One night of my week-long trip, we both set out for our hour and a half drives and met at a Cracker Barrel for our very first meeting! There, I got to meet GB's daughter and her husband and their two children. So cute! GB had brought me cookies!!! She made me Yoda Cookies and put them in an awesome Star Wars tin!! Loved them, love her! We had decided not to actually eat there, though. We wanted to do something a little more fun, so we drove from there to the Cheesecake Factory!! YUMMM!!

So, GB and I took off in my rental car with her grandson to head off on our adventure (and it was a bit of an adventure)! When we arrived at the restaurant, we had to drive around the parking lot for a good 20 minutes or so until we finally found a parking spot! We giggled so much, it was hilarious!

We finally parked and went in and then, of course, had to wait for seating, too. It was ok, though, because we were just talking and talking and talking and keeping tabs on her grandson. While we were waiting, she gave me the cutest chocolate Oklahoma-shaped candy bar!! (It was really good, too! ) *tee hee*

We were finally seated and started oohing and ahing over the menu. I love Cheesecake Factory! We placed our orders and kept on talking and discussing everything under the sun (including Star Wars, of course)!

Unfortunately, her grandson was becoming bored and restless since there wasn't anything for him to do and Cheesecake Factory isn't really kid-friendly. No kids menus or anything! Can you believe it? So, she called her daughter to come pick him up so he wouldn't be so bored. Poor little guy. He was a cutie, though!!

Anyway, we enjoyed the rest of our time together and yummy cheesecake! We each got different kinds, naturally, so we could try each other's!

As we neared the end of our meal, GB gave me one last present ~ a framed picture of my dearest, Han Solo! She is just wonderful and too kind! Love you, GB!! (it's hanging on my wall beside my bed, BTW. Hubby makes comments about that all the time! It's too funny!!! *tee hee* )

Time flew by so very quickly and we decided that since we both still had an hour and a half to drive back to our respective destinations (and it was almost 10:30pm!! ) that we better get on the road... sadly.

Right before we were about to part ways, she asked if my rental car had a CD player in it. We took a look and, sure enough, it did! She started digging around in her car and pulled out a disk that she had made of her favorite Star Wars music pieces and handed it to me to help keep me awake on my drive back! How kind is that!! When I told her I'd send it back to her, she told me to keep it and she could make herself another one! What absolute kindness we have in our wonderful community!! I will treasure it forever, AND we have very similar tastes in our SW music!

I will treasure our meeting forever and look fondly upon the wonderful gifts she gave me often! Love you!