you gotta have friends

It's like a cool drink on a scorching summer day. The refreshment, the rejuvenation, the joy. Squeezing the stuffing out of an old friend erases time and distance, and it is just like it was yesterday. We tooled around Habersham County in a bright red Pinto daring the world to interrupt. It never did. It knew better.

That was me and my bestest friend, Susan.

It has been 15 years since last eye contact. Almost 25 years since we were freshman roommates at Truett McConnell College- both purchasing the same sheets for our dorm room beds and not knowing until we made them up. More since the day bat-welding Bianca  - aka Shittenbarger - chased me through the campus street threatening bodily harm. More since those afternoons after school on the pinnacle of the golf course with Rowena, Susan's mom. More since the days of hearing Hubert's, Susan's dad, silly giggles. More since the days of Acteens and "steps" and a 16th birthday party in my daddy's '48 Chevy and sneaking alongside the gray classic to get in the Cornelia drive-in - free. Even more since the days of Brenda's pea green Mustang called Henry and rolling yards and Brenda's wearing of cotton underwear on her head to keep her hair manageable during sleep. And the pepper in the pillowcase at Rock Eagle. Oh my, the pepper in the pillowcase. I plead the 5th!

These memories keep me alive and moving forward, simply in the hopes that, when I least expect it,  I'll be able to relive them again in a small bistro in Asheville, NC. As I get older, true friends are harder to come by. The daily walk of life leads relationships in different directions and life sets the new priorities, a fact that I detest, but one I must accept. I give thanks for these moments and realize I was, and continue to be, one very lucky girl.

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