Our Friendship Would Graduate This Year

It's been 18 years with you in my life, but the times we have shared will last a lifetime. We have laughed. We have cried. Trouble and mischief found us only we always found a way out of it. From vacations together to the numerous sporting activities, we have had our share of fun. Now, almost two thousand miles separates us. But it's soon to be several more thousand miles later this year. But no matter the distance you will always be my best friend.

I met Val when we were 3 and I was starting dance class at her aunt's studio. According to our mothers, we were pretty much inseparable ever since. Val and I would soon find out that we would be attending school together. Since then we have went to the same school, played on the same teams, been involved in the same organizations, taken vacations together, and numerous other things. No matter what it was, chances are we were doing it together. That was until high school. It was halfway through our senior year when we discovered that we had to get used to being separated. I would be attending a University in the Midwest. She would be joining the Army. I can vividly remember when she told me that fact. I held it together until she left my house. However as soon as her car left my driveway, I broke down right there outside. Did I mention it was during winter in Wisconsin? Anyway, I was terrified. I didn't want to think about how I was going to survive school & life without her by my side. Not to mention that I wouldn't be able to talk to her every day. But the most terrifying thing was that the chances of her being sent overseas to fight were about 100%. I couldn't lose my best friend but I knew I would have to realize it was a possibility.

When she left for basic training, we cried while hugging for about 10 minutes before she had to go. I will never forget the look on her face when she said good-bye. I could see a slight sense of fear in her eyes so I had to be the strong one. Over the next year and a half, we would only see each other about 5 times. But with facebook and phone calls, she didn't feel that far away. She came home right before the start of my sophomore year of college and had to tell me she was being deployed to Afghanistan. I knew she was well trained and ready to go, but that didn't stop my fear. That fear of mine didn't stop until she came home 10 months later safe and sound. Physically she was fine except for some very minor hearing loss for a rocket attack on the base. She seemed like the same person to me, which is what I had hoped would be the case. I didn't know how I would have dealt with it if she was harmed physically or mentally. But that fear was never realized.

After her deployment, we finally got the opportunity to take a trip together. Last summer we headed to Chicago to visit some of my family. The three days we spent hanging out might be some of my favorite I've ever had. We shopped, we ate, we drank, and we visited the sites. It was during this trip that I realized how proud of her that I was. She was receiving comments of gratitude for her service and my own sense of gratitude & pride for her service grew. I guess I had never said thank you to her for her commitment to this great country. But when I finally did she said it was one of the nicest things anyone said to her. Needless to say that brought on more tears, but these were not sad in nature. After our trip, we had new memories and I had a new appreciation for her.

Now we are soon to be separated even more. She is getting deployed to Afghanistan again later this year. This time, I am more calm than I was last time. Maybe it's because of our time together last summer. Or maybe it's that I have realized that I'm growing up and these are things that happen. We can't live down the road from each other forever. But the distance doesn't make our friendship is any weaker. We just have to work hard to get in touch with each other and have more patience during our communication. Instead of riding my bike down to her house for dinner, now I will anxiously await a new facebook message. But each message means that she is okay & safe. And safe is all I ask for these days.

Our friendship turns 18 this year. That means it would be graduating high school and going out into the real world. The two of us are already in the real world, her more than me. But our friendship has reached that point as well. And if our friendship somehow comes to an end soon, I will have the last 18 years to remember her by and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

Abbie

"The best kind of friend is the one you could sit on a porch with, never saying a word, and walk away feeling like that was the best conversation you've had." ~Author Unknown