My Friend Anna
I’m 99.9% positive her high school notes are boxed up and tucked away in my attic, patiently waiting, waiting, waiting. We were bffs back then so the reading of our joy and angst and silly and confused through her eyes would be quite entertaining. And now that I’m thinking about it, we really should have exchanged memory boxes a long, L O N G time ago. She back with hers, me with mine so our older, wiser selves could relive those intensely pure emotions.
♥
She and her family moved to another state somewhere after graduation, but we continued to stay in touch through letters, cards and fast written scribbles. Receiving her penmanship in my mailbox every couple of weeks or so filled me with happy and there are some back-in-the-day simpleness-es that will never be matched because absolutely priceless !! they are.
Somewhere down the busyness of life, our correspondence trickled to a stop. And looking back now, I’m wondering why and how we let that happen.
Enter FaceBook.
She was the one who reached out with a Do you remember me ?? sweet message. Of course I dooooooo ! I gushed ! and we picked up right, smack, dab where we left off.
She was a devoted fan of my words, forever fueling my moody ego with encouragement, thumb’s up !! and jolly, reminiscent comments. And for that, I am infinity grateful. She propped me up when I swayed, she insisted I keep reaching for that dream.
Every now and again we would toss out the notion of meeting halfway between her house and mine to BIG HUG, catch up and and and … but and never came to be.
Last year, when Husband and I were venturing on a rather bumpy road, she messaged me privately to thank me for an inspiring blog. She informed me of some trials she was experiencing and wanted me to know how very much my rambles helped her through her rough moments. We promised to keep each other informed with pep talks and brief updates but once again, we somehow slowed even those contacts to a stop. Through my writings she could read how things were going for me but I, lost in the have to do this and that-s, did not pause to see what was going on with her.
Yesterday was her birthday. I sent her a Happy ! Happy ! greeting via the U.S. mail with a p.s. reminder of my phone number and email. I had recently left FaceBook because of it’s insistent negativity and wanted to reestablish our line of communication in other ways. And I’m still trying to figure out why I asked Husband to search for her name. I guess I was simply curious to see how she was enjoying her special day.
What I found instead were tributes to a much loved soul. She had quietly left this life during the final days of June and how I didn’t know until yesterday just hurts my heart.
Knowing she is reunited with her husband, her mom, her dad and my mama brings me hope. Realizing our last correspondence was an old fashion pen to paper = WoW. And acknowledging we will one day pick up right where we left off, fills me with indescribable glee. But knowing she was always, ALWAYS somewhere out there, throughout our thick and thin !! will be what I miss most. Her energy was a continual, stop and start go-to in my life and I so love her so.
A visit to my attic to rediscover your letters is what I will soon do, my long-distanced cohort, my nicey-est of niceys, my irreplaceable YOU, as I thank Life for the privilege,
as I cling tight to our bond,
as I call you my very best of the best !! forever and ever friend.
♥ Anna ♥
🙂