On this day 25 years ago, I met my best friend and my high school sweetheart. At the time I had no idea that a chance encounter would lead to friendship and love. And now, a quarter of a century has passed. Where has the time gone?
Amy and I were nearly inseparable for a good long while. She and I knew each other so well that we could finish each other’s sentences. Hell, half the time, we could read each other’s minds. As for Chris, he was my first love. He set the romantic standard for all others to follow, and for most of our relationship, I wanted nothing more than to be near him.
Even now, I’m still struck by the fact that they’re both gone. They were such strange and unique people, kind and passionate, funny and flawed. But most of all, so alive. I have lived a lifetime without them, unable to pick up the phone and catch up, or hop in the car and go for a drive. In grief, I remain friends with their ghosts, but it is not the same.
What I wouldn’t give for just a few more hours together. We could eat cheap pizza, play Phase 10, listen to great music and talk about anything and everything. And when it was time for them to once again return to the land of Death, I could give them both big breasty hugs before saying farewell.
Today, it’s their hugs I miss the most.
