Such A Trip

So back when my best friend and I were kids she dated this guy Mike ... he is from France ... had a heavy French accent ... and they dated for years and years ... I was pretty sure they would eventually get married ... just seemed like they should but it didn't happen and she and I went off to college at the University of Kansas ...

I always thought it would still happen ... so much so that we made a drunk bet one night ... even wrote it out in chicken scratch and had witnesses sign it ... that if she married Mike one day she would owe me a pitcher of beer (in college that was like currency to me) ... I still have that little pink piece of paper too ...

She eventually married someone else ... and divorced him 10 years later ... for the last 2 years she has been going through the divorce grieving process ... during that time she read a book about getting yourself back ... one of the things it talks about is letting go of old anger ... writing letters to let it all out ... which she has been doing ... she wasn't sure if she was going to send them but writing them helped her a lot ... she is sounding more and more like herself everyday ...

The letter to Mike she decided to mail to his mom's address in France ... she half believed it would come back ... it has been 20 years ... neither of our parents live in the same house they did 20 years ago ...

On my way to work this morning my phone rang ... it half startled me cause I can't even remember the last time it rang in the morning ... I saw it was Kris (who is in Vegas mind you so it is really early there) and I picked it up saying, "What the hell are you doing up this early?" ... she screeched, "Guess who called me?" ... and I just knew it ... I screamed, "MIKE" ... "YESSSSS ... can you believe it??" ...

They didn't get to talk ... both times he called he left a voicemail message ... and cause she never checks her voicemail at home (we are seriously two peas in a pod - I never check mine either) she didn't get the messages for a couple of days ...

She filled me in on the messages and said he left an email address but his accent is just so thick and he said he hadn't spoken English in so long that he was having trouble ... she asked if when I got to work could I listen to her voice mail and get his email address for her ...

Well let me tell you ... hearing that voice quickly zipped me back to the 80's ... I would recognize it anywhere ... it was just a trip ... when Kris and I were going to Orange Coast College our freshman year he was always hanging out ... waiting for her to get out of class he and I would sit around and talk ... and it was like being in 1988 all over again ...

I got his address and she called me back on her way to work ... she asked if I would send him an email letting him know her email address and cell phone and the time difference and all that since she doesn't have access to personal email at work ...

It is all just a trip ... his messages were so sweet to her ... she was beside herself giddy thinking that after 20 years they are going to talk again ... he is still living in France ... and he thinks about her often ...

I am just so proud and excited that she is doing all this stuff for herself ... I have known her 25 years ... and she is sounding the best she has ever sounded ... (except maybe in our Summer of Sizzle which lasted from ages 20 to 24 where all we did was have more fun than 2 people should be allowed to have in one lifetime) ... but all kidding aside ... I am just beyond happy for all that is happening for her ... and love her more than life!!