Today my best friend is getting yet another new chemo treatment to try and rid her body of the beast named Sacroma Ovarian Cancer. As I'm praying for her, thanking God for her and begging him for a miracle, I've been thinking back over our friendship. It's a long one. One that takes time, effort and a lifetime of experience to nurture. One that is time tested.
One of the last days of the sixth grade, a piece of paper with the words "To My Best Friend" slipped onto my desk. It was put there by my friend Angie. Just thinking about that makes me smile.
During our junior high years, we went on family vacations with each other. We spent the night together constantly. We passed hundreds of notes to each other under desks. I stayed with her family while my parents went on some trips. We'd get up at 5 in the morning to go to her mother's beauty shop that was attached to the house and spend all the time we could fixing our hair before school. I thought having a beauty shop at your house was the coolest thing ever. We'd hide under the bed on Saturdays when Granddaddy Black came looking for help working in the garden or doing yard work. We tried out new make up techniques on each other. We shopped together. We dreamed about boys together. I specifically remember her catching me in the hall on a Monday morning in the 7th grade and whispering in my ear "Have you ever kissed anybody?" My answer was no. She giggled and told me all about getting her first kiss on Saturday night. My first kiss was just a few weeks later. She was the first one I told.
Angie hates dogs. I had a little house dog named Heidi when I was growing up. When Angie would spend the night with me, Heidi took her normal spot in my bed. She'd root Angie all the way over to the wall. We'd lay in bed late into the night whispering secrets to each other until my mother would call out "Angie stop whispering." She has never been able to whisper well.
There were 4 of us who were attached at the ear (through the phone) as Tricia's mom would always say. It was me, Angie, Tricia and Manda. Manda and Angie played basketball and softball together. I cheered and Tricia was a majorette. We chaired clubs together. We always stayed in the room together on overnight Beta trips. We were the sponsors pets. Ms. Loggins and Ms.Wunderlich always got their room adjoining ours. I remember all 4 of us piling into Angie's uncle's little car to travel to Birmingham to watch Tanner play in a state tourney playoff. We always had so much fun.
I remember Tricia got her driver's license first. We were allowed to go "up town" with her on a cold February night. The problems started when Tricia parallel parked on the square. When it came time to go home, she couldn't get herself out of the parking place and the rest of us were of no help. We had to go back inside and talk one of the guys we were flirting with into getting Tricia's car out of the parking place. Sad, but true story.
When the 4 of us were seniors we were allowed to go to the local community college half a day and return to high school for half a day. This was the first time this was done at our school. We thought we were something else! Now they have dual enrollment classes. We had a ball going to "college" then eating lunch at each others houses before returning to our life as high school seniors. Of course none of us had weight issues at that time, so there was a lot of eating of canned ravioli and bags of nacho chips and drinking gallons of Sundrop.
Our families have known each other from waaaaay back. My mother and her daddy went to school together. Her Daddy even played on a community league baseball team with my Granddaddy as coach. Her grandparents lived just up the road from me. Her family became my family and vice versa.
In high school, AT THE SAME TIME, we actually dated guys who were 5 years older than us (don't judge us) who had the exact same birthday and their mothers shared a room at the hospital when the guys were born. Is that bizarre or what? We dated guys as the same time who were 1st cousins. I KNOW, it's crazy.
As we got further and further along into high school, Angie wasn't with Tricia, Manda and I on our grand "up town" adventures as much. She stinkin' always had a steady boyfriend and we....well we did NOT. Another sad, but true fact.
After graduation, the 4 of us spent the night together. By that time John and Ronnie were already in the picture. In fact, it was coming home from a night playing cards at Angie's house with her and Ronnie that John asked me to wear his high school ring. Do kids still even do that anymore? I asked John and Ronnie a few weeks ago if they ever imagined that they'd be "family" to each other when they married me and Angie. I think they got a little more than they bargained for.
We all went to the same local community college for a brief time, then we all parted ways to attend different colleges and pursue different lives. But we always remained close and in contact. One weekend we all piled into one car to move Manda back to north Alabama from a school in Mobile. I believe that the stealing of an orange road cone was involved in that little adventure. Not naming names.....Amanda.
There is a lot I'm leaving out...on purpose...some things are better left unsaid :)
Angie was the first of our little quad to get married.
More to come.
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