Tuesday, June 07, 2011

18 years

When I think about how long I've known Claudia, I literally have to count over and over again because it does NOT seem possible that I'm old enough to have known someone for 18 years--but its true.  I was in the 5th grade when I met Claudia. She was in 4th.  We lived in Little Rock on Pecan Street and there was one house in between our houses.  Her house was RIGHT next to my school.  We did not go to school together, however....she went to a private Catholic school and I went to the public magnet school in LR.

At the time, I thought we could not have been more different.  At time time, I felt much different than her.  But if Claudia is one thing, its SUPER social and she was very nice to me from the day we met.  I actually don't even remember how we met, but I assume we met in the neighborhood....while outside playing.

Over time we became best friends--we looked a lot alike back then and people thought we were sisters and sometimes twins....her mom became a 2nd mother to me and she got a kick out of people thinking we were sisters and often bought us matching clothes--it was really fun.  I specifically remember a pair of green plain high top converse type shoes--and a silky floral SHORT set.....that I believe we wore for Easter. 

I went to church with her, her mom and her brother and really just fell in love with all of them.

Interestingly enough, we only lived nearby each other for maybe 2 years--I was in 7th grade when we moved back to NWA.  It was the first time I remember being REALLY sad.  I was devestated to be moving away from my first best friend.  As a 7th grader, I thought there was really no way we'd remain friends. 

E mail wasn't super popular yet, so we vowed to write each other letters.  And we did...for MANY years---and I still have all the ones I got from her.  We wrote well into high school, and we visited here and there when our families could arrange it and I traveled to LR to see her graduate high school.  It was after that when we sort of lost touch for a few years.  Neither of us really know why, it just happened and I guess I sort of expected it to for so long, but I thought of her and her mom frequently and when BJ and I were compiling our guest list---I knew I had to send them an invitation.

We had been so out of touch I did not even have a current address for her--so I googled her mom and sent the invitation to the address I found---and it wasn't them but it was a relative and they got the invite to them--and they came!

It was a very sweet reunion and it was very special for me to have them there!  And that began our relationship again--and we've been in great contact pretty much ever since. 

A lot has happened in our lives in 18 years and I know a lot more will, but we'll always be friends, this much I know.  If we've survived this long, we got this, right?!

Several months ago, Claudia got married to a great guy who serves in the Navy--and her took her all the way to Virginia.  She is pregnant with her 2nd baby and got to come home for a shower last month and I made the day trip to LR to see her while I could!   It was a fun time and I'm so happy I got to be there.

Our girls are the same age and they also adore each other and I hope they're as good of friends and their mamas are!

Anyway, heres some photos from our time :)











1 comment:

Jessica said...

Fun post! I learned something new about new you! : ) I love hearing stories from childhood.