By: Hollie Hojek
hhojek@kcautv.com
It's a story of five friends from Sioux City, who are making sure they never miss a memory or a moment.
Like so many friends they moved away after high school, all attending different colleges, but there is something unique about this group. Let's just call them a real page turner.
Over 10 years ago they started something called the traveling journal. In that time it's traveled 38,000 miles, coast to coast, friend to friend.
"It's just nice when you actually have the journals because it's like you have all these girls, all these women with you, even though they're hundreds...if not thousands of miles away," said one of the journal co-founders, Melissa Lanzourakis.
Now the journal and five women are being nationally recognized...from the Wall Street Journal..to the Today show in New York. But in the beginning it wasn't always so exciting. Unfortunately the women lost their close friend Jessica in a car accident, only four months after starting the journal.
Jessica never got a chance to write in the journal, but that doesn't mean you can't find her in there. From memories of friends to pictures of weddings and babies being born, the journal is an intimate account of their friendship. Melissa remembers the very first entry she ever saw.
"When it did show up I remember thinking this is the coolest thing ever. Like she had taken black construction paper and wrote a poem on it in glitter pen. I can remember it distinctly." said Lanzourakis.
Melissa credits the journal for keeping her friendships alive, and they wanted to inspire other women around the world do the same. So with the help of a few paper napkins, the women came up with friends@thetravelingjournal.com. The women sell hand stitched journals designed to last a life time, just like friendships should.
