Friends for A Lifetime

It's the first day of school, 1982. I'm sitting on a school bus for the first time bound for Sullivant Elementary. We approach the last bus stop and on gets a chubby, blond curly haired girl who is crying...and her mom, a spitting image of her only older, is on the outside of the bus waving and crying as well. I didn't know who this girls was, but wondered why she was crying. I was sitting in the back of the bus and the new passenger sat mid-way back. We arrived at Sullivant, and I didn't see the blond passenger again until recess. I was jumping rope and she was sitting under a tree...I wondered why she was alone, but continued jumping rope. I then saw her at the end of the day getting on the bus - and she seemed so happy to be back on the bus. This routine occurred for several more days, probably even weeks...she would get on the bus crying, mom on the outside crying, we would arrive at school, and I wouldn't see her again until recess - her under the tree, me jumping rope - then at the end of the day she would be all smiles ready to board the bus. I didn't know her name, but I wanted to know why everyday she cried when getting on the bus, why every day she was alone at recess and why she was so happy to get back on that bus.

One day the usual events of the day occurred, but this particular day I noticed that she wasn't alone during recess - there were other girls with her. They were all sitting under the tree and "appeared" to be having a conversation - but the expression on the blond passenger's face was not reflecting happiness and tears were rolling down her eyes. I stopped jumping and went over to where she was sitting...the closer I got, the more I realized that the other girls were teasing her. The blond passenger was a very chubby girl and the other girls were making fun of her. Then, completely out of my nature, I told the girls they needed to stop, that they were hurting her feelings. The blond passenger looked up at me with eyes that were amazed at what they had just seen and a face that reflected thankfulness. The girls soon departed and I stayed there with the blond passenger. "Hi. My name is Megan." She replied back, "Hi. My name is Christina, but you can call me Christy. Thanks for doing that." And that is how a beautiful friendship began between Christy and I.

For 27 years we have been friends. From 1st Grade right through High School we were together. We have been there for each other during the good times and the bad. We experienced the ugly duckling stages of life and the stages of girls becoming young women. Long hours on the phone, sleep-overs, shopping trips, make over parties, many bus rides to and from Sullivant Elementary and Mohawk Middle School, riding our bikes in the summer, walking in the rain, high school events, first crushes, getting our driver's license, and all the normal childhood into adulthood experiences. As is the usual situation after High School, life happens and time moves quickly...and our phone calls are few and far between. However, with Christy - it is if time hasn't passed by...we pick up right where we left off...and I LOVE THAT!!! We always try to call the other around the holidays and on birthdays (although I forgot call on her birthday this year), and maybe one or two more time throughout the year - depending on what is happening in our lives. Since graduation - she has called to tell things like...she accepted Christ as her personal Savior (for 22 years I witnessed to her!), she was getting her LPN License, she was having a baby and that her baby boy had arrived. She has also called to talk about struggles she was having with her mom, that her dad was in the hospital and that things didn't look good, that she and her son's father were separating. With all the time that passes, and days or months without a phone call or seeing each other - we still have a connection that is deep and we NEVER end a conversation without telling each other that we love the other. We have walked too long a road together - to stop now...and I know that in Christy (and she knows that in me) - we are friends for a lifetime.

Christy and I have a song - we made a promise to each other....that we could ALWAYS count on the other.