We must bring salvation back
Where there is love, I'll be there
I'll reach out my hand to you,
I'll have faith in all you do
Just call my name and I'll be there.....
I guess you could say Mary & I have been friends and sisters
since the day we met back during our preschool years. I hope I can relate to you how much Mary means to me without rambling endlessly.My Mom & Dad have always worked. I went to the same sitter my older brother (he's 9 yrs older) and older sister (she's 5 yrs older) went to for the first few years. For reasons I don't remember, my Mom had to find a new sitter for me. That's when Mary came into my life!
My Mom had met Mary's Mom through my previous sitter. Mary and I became best buds from that point on. That isn't to say we didn't have spats, or knock-down-drag-out fights. We did! Complete with kicking and hairpulling. :o) But we'd soon make up and most of the time we never brought up the fact that we'd fought. It was forgotten quickly.
Mary and I shared many "firsts" together. Some of those things got us into MAJOR trouble :o) but most of the time we were lil' Angels. *s*
Mary and I had other friends that we played with and we didn't always play in a group (Do you remember saying "If you want to play with me, then you can't play with *insert name of kid you didn't like here*"?). In our child minds, we sometimes chose one another over another friend and sometimes we didn't. As we grew older, we grew out of that. We had our mutual friends as well as our seperate friends.
My family went camping EVERY year. My Mom & Dad would usually let my sister and I bring a friend. I think my parents allowed that because they knew they'd get no peace if they didn't. Mary was the friend I took most often. We used to go to New Jersey ("what egg-zit??"), Niagara Falls (both State-side and Canadian-side), Maine, Vermont and even to local places that were still far enough away from home to be considered "on vacation". I was always heavier than her and she'd make me jealous in her little bikinis on the beaches and it never failed - she always got the cute guys!
I used to go to fairs with them and to lots of other places.
Since Mary's mom is Dutch (Mary was born in Holland), they went to see relatives in Holland every other year or so. Sometimes Mary even went by herself, with a stewardess watching over her and making sure she got the connecting flights.
When I was 16, and Mary was 15, we joked around with her Mom and asked if I could go with them on their summer trip. To our surprise, her mom said yep, as long as I could pay for it. I was so excited, but then I knew my mom would never let me go. Mary kept bugging me to ask... finally after a month of her on my case, I asked. I wasn't surprised when my mom confirmed what I already knew. No, I couldn't go, she couldn't afford it. Mary and me were so down.. then a week later, at the dinner table, my Mom asked me if I was serious and if I really wanted to. Oh YEAH! I said. She said I could go providing I used some of my trust fund money. I called Mary RIGHT AWAY and told her the good news! It was all we could talk about until the time we left in June after school was out.
Since that time, whenever we said something in a joking manner about our "dreams", we'd remind each other of how many great things came about because of a "joke".
Mary had been there for me when I came home from vacation one time when I was around 9 and found my brother had gotten rid of our family dog... And I was there for her when she lost her long time pet dog, Max, to sickness. We've laughed, cried, screamed & fought together. We were always each other's "protector".
I'd confide in her about my family life, about the current boyfriend I had and anything else I wanted to talk about and she'd do the same to me. We went through grade school, middle school and high school together. My parents would cringe when they'd find out Mary and me were in the same classes. My husband cringes NOW when he hears Mary's in town!
I married a Navy man in 1983 (when I was only 18 & after a very short engagement) and we were transferred to Groton, CT within the same month. Mary married 2 yrs later to a guy we went to high school with. I came back to NY in the fall of 1986 and was just about to find out I was pregnant with our 1st (and only) child, Genesis. Mary and her husband had decided to wait to have kids but how we dreamed of being pregnant together! Unfortunately, Mary was transferred with her job just a year and a half later. It was only North Carolina, I tried to reason, but it still felt like it was halfway around the world to us!
Mary had her first child while in NC. Her husband had gotten a job with her company and they soon decided he could go further if they transferred to Texas. Texas IS more than halfway across the country! When her son was about 3, Mary's hubby went on ahead of her so that he could furnish the house they'd had built out there after the transfer was ok'd. Mary was pregnant again, with her daughter. She would fly to TX from NC for doctors' appointments because that was were she wanted the baby delivered.
Alot has happened since Mary had the children, both in her life and in mine. We continue to share thoughts and dreams (our present "dream" that we're working on making reality is MY husband getting transferred to Texas!!). We're still crying on each other's shoulders, long distance, for hours at a time. Not until our last tear had dried and we'd gotten a smile on our faces and a tone in our voices that says better times are coming would be even think about ending that "Lean on Me Session".
We shared secrets with each other that we've never told to another soul! Not even to our husbands! My husband's even smart enough to just go the other way when Mary & me are on the phone, or when she comes into town and we get together. He doesn't stand a chance! Mary tells him outright, "stay home, Dee's coming to see me by herself!"
I was able to visit her recently. It was as if we didn't have half a country between us. We had a "slumber party" and went to the Hard Rock Cafe & Planet Hollywood, visited the JFK Memorial where he was assassinated in Dallas and we even got to Southfork Ranch... It was great! Almost like when we were kids, but we didn't have to answer to anyone and there was no one telling us "quiet down, girls" or "go to sleep, girls"... we can giggle all we want...
It's funny how that even after these 30 some years together, things are still the same. It's true... The more things change, the more they stay the same. That's Mary and me... . Even after all this time... We always will be... different but still the same.
Please take a look at the touching card and poem Mary sent me. If you've seen it already, thank you for coming to this page and learning more about my wonderful lil' sis! CARD
MARY ~
There's no way I could ever say Thank You and have it mean all that I want it to. With this page dedicated to you, I hope you'll know how much you mean to me. I hope everyone will understand what a "Best Friend" should be. They wouldn't need to look any further than you!
I want to Thank You for so many things, but mainly for being the BESTEST FRIEND anyone could have!! You're the only person I can count on for unconditional love. You encourage me, you don't hold things against me, you forgive the bad choices I make and you applaud the wise ones. You don't humor me, or say things just to appease me. I can count on you to tell me what you think and then allow me the time to contemplate my choices, knowing I'd come to my senses before it was too late. Well, most of the time I came to my senses before it was too late (grin). When I did screw up, you never turned your back on me, you never treated me less than what I am. You never took happiness in my sorrow or bragged about my shortcomings to others in order to make yourself appear to be above me.
For these things, and for so many more unmentioned, I sincerely Thank You. I love you! Dee xo
And remember to sign mine on any other page here
If you have suggestions,
comments or just want to send
a friendly hello...
