Lost and Found: One of the Best Days Ever

Allow me to introduce you to a few people:

These are "Our Kentucky Boys"

Joe, Josh and Nathan
Or as we once called them, Kentucky 1, 2, and 3.


And the other person behind the "Our", my Texas gal pal:

Amanda and I
(Excuse the fact that I look hideous in this picture.)

Now I need to tell you an oh so wonderful story:
(This is mostly for me to always remember so I won't be offended if you don't read this!)

It was September 2006 and I was on my way to Lexington, Kentucky to assist in a Johnny Carino's opening there. I would help train the servers there. The Johnny Carino's was located in the parking lot of Fayette Mall, surrounded by the beautiful grass and trees that cover Kentucky. I love it there and miss it often. At the time I was SO nervous to go. Being away from my family for 2 weeks seemed impossible. And I only knew one other person going on this opening. My friend Cory from the Johnny Carino's where I worked was going as a chef trainer. I was happy that he'd be there.

I'd never flown alone so I was really nervous for that. The people who booked my flight assumed that Idaho Falls was close to Boise so they scheduled my flight through that airport. And naturally they scheduled the flight for 6 am. I made the drive to Boise the night before and stayed in a Best Western suite, right next to the airport. The room was nice and big but lonely. I loved sleeping in a king size bed by myself and right in the middle. I'd always wanted to do that. However, I didn't get much sleep because I was worried I'd miss my flight.

The next morning I woke up at 4:00 to get ready and head over to the airport. I parked my Toyota Camry in the long term parking and nervously headed to my gate. My good friend SanDee gave me the advice to just follow the signs if I felt like I was getting lost in an airport. I wasn't worried so much about the Boise airport or even the Lexington airport. It was my next TWO stops before Lexington I was worried about: the Denver airport and Chicago O'Hare Airport, the latter being one of the biggest airports in the world. Gahh!! The flight to Chicago was a long one. I sat between two guys and the one by the window kept trying to talk to me. I was exhausted and just wanted to sleep. I ended up going through all of the airports with ease. In Chicago there was a lot of walking, but I found myself loving the fact that I was walking down the same halls the McAllister family walked through in the "Home Alone" movies. My layovers were all at least 2 hours in each airport. It was a long day.

I arrived in Lexington late afternoon and hitched a ride to the Candlewood Suites Hotel we'd be staying at. The other trainers were all at the restaurant so I stayed at the hotel by myself and read a book. We shared a room with one other trainer and the rooms were HUGE. They all had a separate kitchen and living room, then the bedroom was off away from those with a large bathroom. It was fabulous.

*Speaking of our room, I have to tell this quick story: A couple of days later my roommate and I (I hate that I can't remember her name) had to switch rooms because we had a TON of crickets in it. We'd turn the lights off to go to bed and hear them chirping. It wasn't until we were lying there in bed and we could hear them ON our bed. Oh. My. Gosh. We were on the main level and they had been a problem throughout the summer. Lovely. The front desk felt bad so they moved us to the very top floor into one of the suites. It was like the one we had before but bigger. It had another bedroom with two more beds and a bathroom on the other side with an ever bigger kitchen and living room. Needless to say, the other trainers always wanted to hang out in our room.

Back to the main story! The training leader, Brilynn from the Meridian, Idaho Johnny Carino's, came back to the hotel to get me to bring me over to the restaurant. I had butterflies in my stomach thinking about all of my responsibilities and hopeful that I would make friends with these people. It was exciting at the same time. We pulled up to the restaurant and walked in the front doors and I was greeted by the hostess trainer and five other girls who were training.

"Hey, y'all! Welcome to Johnny Carino's!"

And that was only the beginning of "y'all". The employees were SO nice, it was heaven. All so friendly with that southern drawl and charm. It was wonderful. Brilynn introduced me to Christina, the hostess trainer from New Jersey, and we continued on so she could introduce me to a few others, including the three I'd be training for the evening. There huddled by table 63 were four people that I had no idea would forever change my life:

Joe, Amanda, Josh, and Nathan all turned around and with the warmest smiles greeted me and introduced themselves. Amanda was a server trainer from Dallas, Texas. Joe, Josh, and Nathan were all trainees from Lexington (originally from Pikeville) and they were my first group of trainees. They were all three good friends, and Josh and Nathan had been a couple for almost two years. These are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet in a lifetime. Amanda was hanging out with these guys quizzing them on food knowledge while they waited for me to get there. These four made that opening such a fun and memorable time. Amanda and I got to be good friends, and we ended up becoming close with these boys, Kentucky 1, 2, and 3. :) It was SO FUN training these guys! They were a hoot. I could listen to them talk all night long. As a trainer we had to make sure they were doing everything spot on and saying all the right things at their tables. These three were naturals and did a great job all the time. I found myself laughing a lot at some of the things they'd say and how they'd say them. Here are some of my favorites (picture a thick southern accent):

"I just love you, girl."
"Oh my heck, you're the cutest."
"Have you ever tried sweet tea? Oh girl, you've got to try sweet tea!"

Amanda and I loved training and being at the restaurant with "our boys". We weren't always their trainers, but the high fives and hugs we got from them as we walked by were wonderful. We weren't allowed to leave and go off by ourselves (especially with the rental vans) so the boys would come pick us up in Nathan's Volkswagen Beetle. We'd go to Josh and Nathan's house and look through photo albums, talk, and just laugh our heads off. We loved the time we spent with them. Saying goodbye was ridiculously hard. The three boys gave me a present before I left that I've cherished since they gave it to me: a stuffed Heart Shine Bear Care Bear and a book about Lexington. They wrote me the sweetest note inside the cover that I've read over and over. Brycen has loved that Care Bear. I hated saying goodbye to those boys.

I was the first to leave Kentucky between Amanda and I. She stayed almost a week longer than I did. My flight home was early like before. Amanda took me to the Lexington airport early in the morning and we said our goodbyes at the sidewalk. It was so hard to leave Kentucky. The people I'd met there were so wonderful, especially my four buddies. When I got home I called Nathan to let him know I'd made it safely, as he had asked. I put him on speaker phone so my family could hear him talk to me. They laughed as he asked about the trip and if I was safe, if I stopped to take breaks while driving, etc. It was so fun and I missed them already.

I stayed in touch with my four pals, so much so that we all decided to spend the weekend before Thanksgiving together. I would fly to Dallas and Amanda and I would drive to Lexington and stay with Josh and Nathan. I was SO excited, I could hardly stand it. I booked my flight out of Boise (it seemed appropriate) and Amber and SanDee drove me there. The night before we stayed with our friends Rachel, Pristine, and Marita at their apartment. It was so fun! Amber and SanDee dropped me off at the airport and drove away. With excitement I walked inside and arrived at the counter to check in. When I told the girl my name I was horrified at what came next: I wasn't on the list. They had no record of me buying a ticket for this flight. I checked my paper that I had printed and made sure I had the right date, airport, etc. It was all correct. All there. But they had no record of me. And the flight was full. All other flights to Dallas that day were full as well. I broke down right there. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! It was horrible. I called Amanda and let her know what happened. She was disappointed but supportive. Then I had to call the boys. It was the WORST. They were so sweet as I cried on the phone. I couldn't believe this was happening. I called Amber and SanDee and they turned around to get me. They were so nice and helpful, knowing I was devastated by what had just happened. We ended up stopping at the Twin Falls Johnny Carino's to see some friends. Jeremy, the GM there and our old manager, bought our lunch and did his best to help cheer me up. It helped, yes. But I felt so sad inside. It was such a hard day.

After that incident I stayed in touch with Amanda and the boys, but it slowly started to disappear. Even with Amanda. There was a long period of time where none of us called each other, we didn't send cards...then nothing. I decided one day to get back in contact with Amanda. We stayed connected ever since (this was about fall 2007). During Christmas time 2007 I decided to try giving the boys a call. But to my surprise all three of them had different numbers. None of them went through. I was so sad and realized that I didn't have any contact with them. Joe and I had been friends on Facebook for awhile so I still had that, but Josh and Nathan were nowhere to be found. I searched and searched then gave up. I thought about them constantly for years. I hate the word "years" when you're trying to find someone. It feels like a lifetime. They were always on my mind. I had asked Amanda a few times if she had heard from them, and every time she said no. It was hard for both of us.

I decided to try searching again in May 2011 after having a very vivid dream about coming in contact with them. The next day I was searching for them online when I came across their MySpace page. It was a page they shared. Perfect!!! I was so excited. I didn't have an account at the time so I created one to add them as a friend. Then I noticed it had been over a month since they had last been on MySpace. In June when I still hadn't heard from them I started to get desperate. I looked at their top friends list to see if there were any relatives listed. I found three and wrote them all messages telling them who I was and that I was trying to contact Josh and Nathan. I checked back constantly to see if they responded, but nothing. One person read the message but didn't write me back, and the other two never opened it.

At the beginning of September I was beginning to give up again when one day I was talking to Joe on Facebook. I mentioned that I'd tried finding them again but it didn't work. Joe, Nathan, and Josh had since lost contact and Joe didn't even know where they were. HOWEVER, Joe did know that Nathan was on Facebook and gave me a link to his profile but he didn't seem to get on Facebook very much. I followed the link and sure enough, it was definitely him. I added him as a friend and wrote a message with it. Then I looked through his pictures and got teary looking at him and Nathan. I was happy to see that they were still together and doing well.

A month passed and he still hadn't responded to me. I gave up again this week, on October 25th to be exact. The next day on October 26th I was online and got the most wonderful notification ever: "Nathan Brown has accepted your friend request." I squealed with joy and tears instantly came to my eyes. Tyson came into the office to ask what was going on and I explained. It was such a wonderful feeling. I immediately got on chat and started talking to Nathan. And it was the best!!!! We were both so excited to have found each other. He and Josh had been looking for me as well and had looked all over just like I did. I couldn't believe it. So many prayers were answered.

While chatting with Nathan I sent Amanda a message on Facebook:

"Look who I found!! Thanks to Joe, Kentucky 1 and 2 have been found. I'm chatting with Nathan right now and it's fabulous."

I also left a link to his profile. This is the response I got from Amanda:

"Shut. Up! I'm going to go log on my computer now!!!"

Nathan and I talked for about a half hour. It was so fun catching up! I never want to forget what he said to me in his messages, it was so sweet:

"OMG you have no idea how SWEET that just was, you were with out a doubt the easiest person in the world to LOVE!!! We miss you so much and really hope to get to see ya again, I know were East and West coast but Josh and I are gonna take a vacation after we get moved in and I'm pushing to head out West for a couple weeks... If I can convince him that Cali isn't going to slide off into the ocean maybe we'll be in LA for a little while....Your totally not a STALKER, we've been on here 1475894744574 times looking for you...Sooooo I think we might seem more like a stalker, it was seriously like we lost a SISTER that we would never see again.... It was awful!!! I'm so GLAD that you found us:))))"

In response I said this:

"You are just the best!!! Talk about make me cry. That's one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me! I would totally come out to LA if you guys came west. I'll definitely see you two again, I'm going to make sure of that! Do you remember that Care Bear and Lexington book you gave me? My 18-month-old son loves that bear and takes it around the house with him. And I look at that book and read the note you wrote me in the front all the time. You're right, it was like losing a sibling! It's felt like a movie over the last few years and I'm wondering where my lost brothers are. I just love you both and I can't tell you how happy I am! I can sleep tonight knowing my brothers are found!!"

And then he said this:

"We just said that we feel like we found our long lost sister...I can't believe it, we even think alike:)) Josh would cry sometimes thinking about you and if he would ever get to see or talk to you again. I can't believe you still have that Care Bear and Lexington book, thats so sweet. We have the card you sent us and we scrap booked it so we would NEVER loose it, its open and the only thing on the page!! We read it every now and then to reassure ourselves that there is still people in the world like YOU, your 4SURE OUR SISTER and ALWAYS WILL BE...Your little famliy is sooooooooo ADORABLE and blessed, you have such a beautiful litte boy!! Its like you guys were made for each other, soooo darn CUTE!!!! Josh and I have talked about adoption here the last few months, hoping this move will put our family together:))) If we do come to LA I will let you know far ahead of time so we can figure out how to see each other... We have to keep it touch and WE LOVE U VERY MUCH and MISS YOU MORE THAN U KNOW!!!"

Talk about make me cry!! Who wouldn't want to know these guys? Later that evening I was tagged in a Facebook status by Amanda:

"Today was all smiles! I Met and had breakfast with a new friend Heather Ponce Lowry... Then Allison O'Connor Miller reconnected me with some lost loves Nathan Brown and Josh!!! how fun! =)"

I felt the urge to change my status to this:

"Feeling super blessed to have found two friends I've been looking for over the last few years. Such a great day!! Sure do love you, Nathan Brown and Josh!!"

Then later that day Nathan tagged Amanda and I in his status:

"I just want all my friends to know that I found 2 ladies last night that mean the world to Josh and I!!!! Allison O'Connor Miller and Amanda Robertson Gonzales you guys were and still are the sweetest angels and we can't wait to GET TOGETHER, we've missed you girls SOOO MUCH!!!! I feel like I've got my sisters back and now we get to meet their incredible new families... You girls are VERY PRECIOUS to us and ALWAYS WILL BE:)))))))) WE LOVE U!!!!!"

And later commented on his status with:

Allison we got out our scrap books and was reading over your 4 cards again... You have the most angelic heart, never met anyone with soooo much care about other people and without prejudice you became our best friend soooooo FAST!!!! I wish they're were a full 1% of people in the world JUST LIKE YOU, it would make it alot easier for Josh and I and others like us who get soooo much bad rep's....I still can't believe we found each other again and we'll NEVER LOOSE this connection....FRIENDS FOREVER!!!

. . . .

I feel like so much weight has been lifted off of my shoulders. For the longest time I felt like there was a piece missing in my life because I had lost contact with Josh and Nathan. I felt a little empty. This week has completely turned that around for me. I am so happy to have found them again and I can't wait for the day that we get to reunite in person. I love those guys so much! All four of these people are some of the greatest friends ever. It's amazing how you can go so long without seeing someone then it all comes flying back once you reconnect. I feel so blessed! What an amazing week.