I remember when we said “goodbye”

September 2, 1993 – Fremont, Ohio

It was the last day I would ever live in Ohio.  I had been there for 18 years of my life, and now sat at a crossroads.  My dad would be taking me to Florida the next day for college, so I sat on Hayes Ave at a party with some of my closest friends.  They each wrote a letter to me in a notebook (it was pink), sharing with me the hole my exit would leave in their lives.  I still have the notebook and read it every once in a while.

Jon Weber, my math teacher was there, along with Eric, Melinda, Tony, Marci, and Kelly.  Stephanie made an appearance too, though I hated that she showed up. She was the first female to ever hurt my heart.  I had never felt that before and would have preferred it to never happen again.  She wrote a nice enough note in the book, but still.  Then Angie surprised us all with her attendance too.  Angie worked with my best friend Clay and I at Pondegross-a (formerly known as Ponderosa).  She sported an amazing smile and also happened to be the local public schools homecoming queen.  Though we were not very close with her, Clay decided to do me a favor and invite her to my “going away” party.

I was thankful, and it also made me feel better about Stephanie being there.

Angie and I exchanged new addresses and she promised to write me soon, which she did. (pre email, or even cell phone)  I wrote her back.  She returned the letter with another which I swore held a hint of Chanel #5.  I never returned the letter.  I was never very good at letters.

And of course, Clay, Mark, and Carrie were there too.  We were minus another of our best friends, Jeremiah, who had already shipped off to the Marines.  But these were the closest people I had in the world, and you could see it in their eyes that they hated that I was leaving.  They wrote amazing, wonderfully sappy notes and though happiness maintained its place in my emotions, I understood my leaving would indeed leave a hole in the lives of the people in whom I had made an impact.  But I was doing the leaving, and as I learned that fall, doing the leaving is almost always the easiest when it’s on good terms.

This week I found out that two of my really close friends are moving away from this area to another place, which will allow for more opportunity and a different path.  I find myself getting emotional just thinking about it.  I am happy for them and for the lives they will lead, and yet there is an instant hole that I know will be left inside of me.   I wonder if I’m getting old because I almost want to cry thinking about it.  So what I’ll do is remember the time I drove away from Fremont, Ohio, seeking a different, even better story for myself, and praise God for new technology.

The journey from face to face chats to Facebook begins.

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1. What category are you in?
2. BFF’s
3. The Ohio Light Dept.