A Tale Without a Happy Ending (Yet)
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away . . .
There was a girl who went away from home for the first time. While living away from home she met another girl who became one of her best friends ever. They had a rocky beginning (one of them was overly sensitive and the other had a very outspoken manner and a sharp wit, not always the gentlest combination). But the girl came to love her new friend, to crave her approval, and chose to stand by her through thick and thin-- even through a few rough patches where they got offended at each other.
After a few years the girls had grown into young women and their individual paths took them in different directions. They ended up separated by hills and plains, mountains and rivers, but they still kept in regular contact and even visited each other in person. They grew even older and both married and started their own families. The bond was still strong, though the contact was of necessity less frequent.
The girl grown to young woman and then to fully fledged adult became a desert dweller (something she'd never expected to be) and some of her opinions and attitudes changed. Her friend became an urban seaboard dweller, something that also strongly influenced a change of opinions and attitudes. Both probably didn't even realize at the time how much they were changing.
Gradually that change dawned on both of them and it was painful. So much so that contact between them became the most sparing it had ever been, pretty much Christmas cards with a few words on them.
Then one day the grown woman who had lost her friend to the ravages of growing up and changing had a dream. In that dream, her friend had inexplicably appeared in her life in the desert. And she felt such joy!! She woke up ecstatic, only to have crashing reality remind her that it was only a dream. But the dream reminded her of how much she desperately missed her friend, the one that had been like a sister to her.
So she pulled up Facebook, and she read her friend's most recent post. And once again, her friend had used her sharp wit to attack something that meant a lot to her. She sighed, turned away from the social media without bothering to comment, and tried to put it out of her mind.
But she still misses her friend.
There was a girl who went away from home for the first time. While living away from home she met another girl who became one of her best friends ever. They had a rocky beginning (one of them was overly sensitive and the other had a very outspoken manner and a sharp wit, not always the gentlest combination). But the girl came to love her new friend, to crave her approval, and chose to stand by her through thick and thin-- even through a few rough patches where they got offended at each other.
After a few years the girls had grown into young women and their individual paths took them in different directions. They ended up separated by hills and plains, mountains and rivers, but they still kept in regular contact and even visited each other in person. They grew even older and both married and started their own families. The bond was still strong, though the contact was of necessity less frequent.
The girl grown to young woman and then to fully fledged adult became a desert dweller (something she'd never expected to be) and some of her opinions and attitudes changed. Her friend became an urban seaboard dweller, something that also strongly influenced a change of opinions and attitudes. Both probably didn't even realize at the time how much they were changing.
Gradually that change dawned on both of them and it was painful. So much so that contact between them became the most sparing it had ever been, pretty much Christmas cards with a few words on them.
Then one day the grown woman who had lost her friend to the ravages of growing up and changing had a dream. In that dream, her friend had inexplicably appeared in her life in the desert. And she felt such joy!! She woke up ecstatic, only to have crashing reality remind her that it was only a dream. But the dream reminded her of how much she desperately missed her friend, the one that had been like a sister to her.
So she pulled up Facebook, and she read her friend's most recent post. And once again, her friend had used her sharp wit to attack something that meant a lot to her. She sighed, turned away from the social media without bothering to comment, and tried to put it out of her mind.
But she still misses her friend.
Comments