Once upon a time there was an awkward self conscious 12 year old with brown hair and freckles. On the first day of 8th grade at Ingleside Middle she was assigned alphabetically to a seat in Mrs. Morrill's Social Studies class wherein a class syllabus was distributed. She took one of the stack at the front of the row and turned around to pass the rest back, when she was met with a new face. A lovely face that also had freckles and was framed with brown hair. After lunch she was waiting outside Science class with the new girl and introduced herself. It took several tries for her to catch the new girl's name. Breeze? No, Bree. The awkward girl's last name started with A. Bree's with B, so they were paired up in nearly all their classes for the next two years. Both girls were academically above average and they both enjoyed participating in drama. It was a friendship made in Heaven. The girls were nearly inseparable until shortly into Sophomore year when Bree's cruel parents ripped the two apart by moving back to Colorado. Another year and a half later and the awkward girl (yes, it's me) moved to Utah. We went on to separate universities. I served a mission in Spain while Bree went around the world with Semester at Sea. Then, in 1997 we both married tall blond Anthonys. Then in 1999, we each gave birth to our first child. Bree's Anthony (Tony) is a Lt. in the Navy and in these last 8 years they have lived in Guam, Chicago, and Spain. Currently, they are stationed out of 
Bremerton Naval Base near Seattle. All these long years of separation has not diminished our friendship. I count it as one of my life's great blessings.Through their generosity and my frequent flyer miles, Mason, Moira, and I were able to visit them last week as an early birthday present to me.
How wonderful that we can pick up where we left off as if we'd actually lived in the same town for the last 18 years! And as Bree put it, how wonderful that we could give the gift of friendship to our children.
We went to
Pike Street Market, 
the Children's Museum, 
the Seattle Aquarium, rollerskating, we took the ferry, and just enjoyed hanging out with each other. After such a great birthday present, I guess I'll not even mind turning another year older in a few minutes.
5 comments:
I want permission to view your pictures on flickr! *pouts* Your trip sounds most fun! Jeremy and I want to go visit his brother up there sometime.
I'll just send them to you. I only put the ones on the blog on flickr.
You will need to send the photos to me as well. The blog makes the people in the pics small. :) Even from this distance, Fiona is a cutie. I can't believe how big Moira is already!
MY SIDE
Once upon a time, again, there was an even more self-conscious 12 year old with brown hair and freckles. She was the new girl in school, and had come to a large public school (with bells, and a cafeteria and more than 100 students) from a VERY small private school (without bells, a cafeteria and with only 120 students in K-12th grades)in a land far away. In her homeland there were piles of snow and skiing, but this new place was a land of heat and dust(oh, and cockroaches). Needless to say, she was out of her element. She doesn't remember noticing the other girl with brown hair and freckles in Mrs. Morrill's class (although she would learn later that it was just like this other girl to remember the teacher's name after 20 years!), but she does remember the other (braver) girl introducing herself. She was very happy to have a friend with whom she could roll her eyes at the science teacher's strange behavior (that district had a certain knack for hiring extremely strange science teachers. Mrs. Fangman, need I say more?), and who was compatible with her in almost every other way. The brave girl with brown hair accepted the new girl as she was, a hard thing for teenagers to do, and for that the new girl was grateful. Brave Girl stuck by her new friend through all sorts of weather--boy trouble (Brave Girl never seemed to have this affliction, but New Girl certainly did, and then 9/10ths of the boys she took pains over turned out to be gay, which New Girl now wonders if she had anything to do with), never making the lead choral group, conflicts with Drama teachers, differences in religion, and after two years together, distances of hundreds of miles.
Her story is right--the friendship never diminished, and is, more than ever, cherished as a prized possession. But what Brave Girl doesn't mention in HER SIDE, is how very lucky New Girl has been to have her friend in her life, and how her life changed, so much the richer and more meaningful, for the single brave, generous act of introducing herself. What courage! What strength of character! What a girl!
Thanks.
p.s. I didn't have boy troubles because no boys took the trouble...
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