Day 20 - Someone that changed my life

I met her in March 1995.  Her family moved into our ward, and it was a really big deal because she had three cute brothers. :)  She was my age, and in fifth grade just like I was.  But she was much less naive (it seemed) and more mature.  When we met I still had a unibrow and awful clothes.  She wore heels (ok, like 1.5 inches, but still).  I probably still tucked my sweatshirts into my pants, haha.  And I had awful, awful bangs.  Hers were grown out, of course.  Like I said, she was much more mature than I was.

We became friends, naturally.  We saw each other every week at Church, and our families became good friends too, which worked out well for our friendship.  She introduced me to cool music like Mariah Carey and Celine Dion, and taught me how to shave my legs.  We'd spend hours in my room or her room, listening to music and talking about our futures - who we would marry, where we would live, how many kids we would have.  We also talked a lot about going to college and living together.  We said we would always be best friends, BFF's we said.  Nothing could tear us apart.

I was jealous of her a lot because she seemed to be a little more popular than I was, and she was definitely prettier, but we seemed to be a match made in heaven.  We were inseparable.  At church activities we were connected at the hip, and often switched up nametags just to mess with everyone.  We took each other on family trips (remember Sharon VT in the camper? Cabin in Utah? Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving?).  We had a secret language (which, annoyingly, her older brother eventually cracked), private jokes (Wespo, "Stephanie....????").  Just a few weeks ago I came across a 5-page printout of one of our chats on AIM.  It was hilarious but so us.

When we got to high school we became especially busy in our different high schools and different activities, but we still made time for each other and saw each other all the time.  She and her brother(s) would come over for breakfast after seminary (usually on Wednesdays), which was always fun.  We spent lazy Sunday afternoons together on the hammock, just dreaming away.  We'd play the game of "Life" with her siblings, or we'd play Phase 10, sometimes cheating if we were being forced to play.  We had slumber parties, trying to stay up all night watching Pride & Prejudice, but we never seemed to get through all 5 hours at once.

I could go on and on about the memories I have.  She taught me a lot.  I grew a lot from my friendship with her.  We went through some tough times in our 8 years together but thankfully our friendship remained solid.

We did eventually live together, during our freshman year at BYU.  It was great.  But we started to grow apart.  She seemed to hate it there, but I couldn't relate to that because I loved it.  We started to grow distant I think, and sadly I don't really know why I didn't try harder to keep us together.  I think she was going through a hard time, but I'm an avoider and didn't know what to say or how to help, so I stayed silent.  I let our friendship slip away.

Now, seven years later, we are living completely separate (and opposite) lives.  She is starting an exciting career, and I am busy with two little kids.  We live on opposite sides of the country.  I don't think I've seen her more than 3 or 4 times in the last six or seven years.   It's fun to go back read my journals from those years of my life that we were friends.  We thought we would be together forever.

I don't think she reads my blog, but if she does......

Hi!  I miss you.  Thanks for being one of my best friends.  You were one of the best things that ever happened to my little 11-year-old self (and until I was 19).  You encouraged me, you helped me grow up, you introduced me to so many things.  You let me cry on your shoulder when my heart was broken.  You gave me advice.  You were there for me.  I knew I could always count on you.  I hope that everyone, at some point in their lives, gets to have the kind of friend I had in you for all those years.  Thank you.


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Up tomorrow: Favorite television program(s)