Nancy

Somewhere in all the pictures that have come and gone in this house there's one of me and my friend Nancy (and I believe my cousin Gina) at the lake in the winter time. We are sitting around a fire eating saltine crackers and probably those little "sausages" that come in a can. We were really cute, all of us with our almost seventies long hair and bell bottom jeans.
It's hard to remember first getting to know Nancy, fourth grade is long forgotten for the most part. Her mother had just died the May before school started and my mother was having health issues that were more serious than I knew about at the time. Still, mine lived and she was left without hers. Nancy shared with me the other day that she believes the fact that she didn't have her mother there added to a shyness she still has today. I imagine that's true. I remember my mother being so mad at me for saying something SHE DID embarrassed me and then feeling shamed that Nancy's mother was not around to embarrass her at all. I believe the shyness theory is probably true though, Nancy felt different I'm sure, not many of our friends had felt the loss of a parent even through divorce.
I got the chance to sit across the table from my friend today at Chik-fil-a and share a snippet of our lives the past thirty years. We talked about our kids, our husbands (for just a minute, all good) and our aches and pains. Nancy has had some incredibly hard health issues and lives with constant pain. The doctors told her a lot of it was caused by years of smoking. I am so proud of her for stopping that habit five years ago (she's proud too). She looked good, she didn't wear that shroud of pain you sometimes see on people who have suffered. She has a lot of love and positive things in her life. She doesn't socialize much but she's on facebook now and I have a feeling that's going to change to some degree. I felt a tiny bit like I made her nervous for some reason which is something I never want to do to anyone, but she was warm and forthcoming with answers to all my "where've you been?" questions. She never was one to hide the truth about anything. I love that in people.
She said she had read some of my writing and felt connected to me, well I'm glad about that, even if she hasn't been personally involved in my life all these years doesn't negate the fact she one of my life's oldest relationships. I hope we stay in constant contact now. I don't want to lose her again.
I'm gonna find that picture and post it on here as soon as I do about a million other things I have to do first. In the meantime, I'm so glad Nancy is back, I need her.