Old Friends

It seems like that whenever I make friends, they move away and that connection we once had, lessens or goes away.

First, there was Jenny, my very first friend in the whole world. I moved to Topeka when we were 4. We wrote each other and visted very often for so many years. She died in a car accident at age 14. I think of her really often and she visits me in my dreams at the most random of times. Just out of the blue.

Then there are the movers. I had Shanoa my sophmore year. She was really tall, like 5'7" (that is tall for me at 5'3"). She had really long blond hair and looked very much like Julia Stiles to me. All the boys loved her. We would go out and we were all about high school drama and boys and clothes and music and...you know the rest. She moved from Kansas to Texas to Idaho then to Nevada, then back to Idaho.

Then, there was Sheila. Shanoa, Sheila and I were a trio. After Shanoa left, it was just her and I and we became very close. My junior year (her senior) we both got pregnant and had baby girls (2 for me, 1 for her). After graduation, we hung out alot. She went to Cosmetology school and married her baby's father. He went into the military and they moved to Germany (she had a boy there) then eventually to Colorado Springs, CO. They are divorced and she owns a salon there. I haven't seen her in about 2 years, but we still talk and our kids still talk.

Around the same time, my baby daddy (haha) had some friends, the Schmidts, and one of them (Lisa) and I became good friends. We were both young moms. She had a sweet 3-4 year old with crazy red hair. She was such a good friend and really showed me how being a good mom was important. Then they moved to Florida. We talk ocassionally, but not enough. Her son is a teenager. That is crazy.

In college I met Jennifer. She was married and had 2 kids and was studying to become a nurse like me (only she finished). We had Anatomy with Dr. O'Conner, who was a killer teacher with a killer curriculum. We saw dead people. Her hubby was a recruiter in the military and so, I knew the moving part was inevitable. They went to California, then to Chicago. I hope to go see them some day.

After college, there was Mario from work. He was gay, and the best boyfriend I ever had. We could shop together. He moved to California.

My friend Jenny from work - moved to California, then Arizona. We still email regularly.

My friend Dani who I met through my ex, lived in Nebraska, but now lives in North Carolina.

Then there are the online friends that were in Wisconsin and moved to Nevada and the one that lives in California.

I think that is the bulk of them. The cool thing is, that no matter what section of the country I go to, there are friends to reconnect with. I just wish that connection could made more often.