Unforgettable Memories: A Tale of Enduring Friendship

Have you ever lost anyone extremely special to you? It’s not a pleasant experience. The grief is unbearable and can haunt you for a very long time. The only positive thing are the memories that you shared together. Those can be both beautiful yet heart wrenching. The story of Tina and I starts in fifth grade. Tina had a broken ankle and was on crutches. She needed a friend to help carry her books and help her with her lunch tray. I didn’t know her all that well, but wanted to help her. That is where our friendship began. We soon realized that we lived right around the corner from each other, and so we started hanging out sometimes after school. When summer came, we played at Tina’s most of the time because she had a swimming pool with a diving board and slide. Her mom always had lots of food and candy because she worked at a grocery warehouse. Tina and I grew closer and closer and became inseparable. We played softball together and had sleepovers all the time. I went on most of their family vacations. We went all through grade school, middle school, and high school together. We always had fun together whether we were hanging with friends, going to parties or talking about our boyfriends, or roller skating.

Life was always fun with her and she always made me laugh.

I talked to Tina early that day and everything was going well. She had sent me a text that evening and told me her speech seem slurred. I was at my sons baseball game and didn’t respond right away. After I got home, I sent her a text and her husband called me right away and said she had collapsed and they had called 911. She was on her way to Methodist Hospital. I left right away and went there. About 10 minutes after I was there, her husband came out and said she was in critical condition and had a major stroke. I freaked! This could not be happening to my best friend and her family, especially her mom, who just lost her