We go back a long way

   Recently my friend, Sherri, sent me two pictures via email. Both of them were pictures of us from many, many years ago. The first one was a picture of Sherri and I with an older man standing behind us. The older man was Grandpa Bill. Sherri and I, unlike most of out classmates, did not have grandmothers and grandfathers that lived nearby. Sherri's grandparents lived in South Dakota and mine lived in Wisconsin. We had somehow adopted or were adopted by Grandpa Bill and his wife, Grandma Clare, and looked to them as substitute grandparents. We both spent many happy times with them.
   The second was of the two of us. There was snow in the background and we were dressed in coats and white boots. Each of us had a small pail of snow in our hands. In the subject line of the email Sherri wrote, "Remember this?"
  I didn't remember anything about those two pictures. I didn't recognize any of the backgrounds in either picture. I have no idea who could have taken them. I'm not even sure how old we were in those shots. The only thing I recognized was the two little girls standing side by side.
   I don't remember a time when I didn't know who Sherri was. This was confirmed by another picture I saw many years ago. I was less than a year old and sitting in an infant seat. Sherri, who is two years older, was sitting right next to me.
   I remember playing at her house. She lived about a block away with her mother, father, two brothers and eventually a younger sister. I would walk down the hill to her house. She would meet me half way and we would walk the rest of the way back together. I remember being scared of her mother.
   She used to stick up for me. One time she chased a boy who was teasing me down the hall at church after Sunday School. Anytime that she could get close enough she would smack him on his backside with her Bible. She was loyal.
   I remember getting frustrated with her. She was a little slow and school was could difficult for her. I sometimes helped her with her homework. I knew she was smarter than she realized and would sometime grow irritated with her because she wouldn't try.
   We went our separate ways after high school. I went off to college. She went to tech school. She met a guy, got married and had a baby. They guy turned out to be abusive and addicted to drugs. She ran away from him taking her infant daughter with her and eventually divorced him.
   That was what brought us back together again. I had graduated by this time and was living close to the town where we grew up. When I would go back to visit my parents, I would visit her too. I got to know the little girl that she named Lissa. As I had no nieces or nephews at the time, I adopted Lissa as my niece. She still is.
   When Sherri's parents moved to South Dakota, Sherri and Lissa moved with them. I didn't see them for a long time, but we managed to stay in touch. I went to visit Sherri and Lissa in South Dakota. We went to all the tourist places and had a good time.
   We've stayed in touch ever since. Sometimes it's phone calls. Sometimes it's emails. I have a pillow, a embroidered picture, several lace doilies and a big pink hat that she sent me as presents. I've given her a baseball cap, cat stuff and kitchen towels. A few months ago when the cat she had died I sent a sympathy card. When she adopted a new cat, I suggested a few names. She chose one of them. I just sent off a package for her and her new cat today.
   I chuckle when I think of us now. We are an unlikely pair. She likes to go muddin' in a four wheeler, hunt, fish and drive her  Dodge pickup truck. I like to read, write, listen to music and drive my Beetle. We do have some things in common. We both like needlework, cats and drinking tea. We both have finally come to place in our lives where we are happy. Neither of us is where we expected to be.
  In the letter I sent off with the package I reflected on this. No one has been my friend longer than she has. The only person who knows me better than she does is C. We know each other struggles and triumphs. We have been there for each other, even if it is just a phone call, a prayer or a card. We will always be there for each other. We go back a long way.