In honor of my friend’s birthday on August 11, I am reposting Good-bye, My Friend.
Today I will say good-bye to a very dear friend.
We met in grade school and our friendship grew all through high school. She moved away when she married a military man. We didn’t keep in touch on a regular basis, except for birthday and Christmas cards and an occasional random note. But I still felt close to her. We made a lot of lasting memories during those early years of our lives. Memories I will forever cherish. I think I still have those notes she passed to me in the hallway while changing classes.
Last year she got in touch with me via email. I am so glad she did! We were able to catch up, share pictures of our families and just chat. We even had plans to get together for lunch. After all, we only lived about an hours drive from each other.
How can it be that those early childhood friends seem like forever-friends? No matter how much time passes, you can simply pick up right where you left off?
Early this year, she was diagnosed with cancer. They were able to remove the tumors on her brain and she was responding well. And then suddenly the emails just stopped.
She was the type of person who would forward those cute, feel good messages that always tells you to forward them on to 10 other people, including the person who sent it to you. Those annoying forwards that clog up our inboxes. What I wouldn’t give to have one more from her. She stopped checking in on Facebook. I emailed her a few times to see how things were going; how treatment was going but I didn’t hear back. I should have known then that things weren’t good.
I will always regret that I didn’t call her sister to get an update on her progress, or even to get her phone number. If I had of, if I just would have made time to call, then perhaps I could have seen her one more time, face to face. It serves as a reminder that life is short and I want to leave this world with the least amount of regrets as possible.
Good-bye, my friend. I love you.
Oh Laurie… my heart breaks for you. What a terrible awful loss…
May your dear treasured friend be blessed in Heaven now, and you KNOW she knows your heart and sees your pain and regret. I believe with all my heart, she wants you to let go of that guilt. I felt the same exact way when a dear friend passed this year…
I didn’t make the time to ‘stop by or call’- I kept saying as I would DRIVE by her house regularly how we need to stop and see her… but always in a hurry with things to do and places to go.
I truly believe my friend wouldn’t want me to feel regret, but to only feel the warmth of the cherished friendship we had. I believe that for you too, my friend.
XO
Thank you Chris. I do believe you are right. That experience has helped me to stop and take the time to make connections.