September 18, 2025
Years ago when our county elementary schools were thrown together into that scary, hormonal infested world called Middle School, I met lots of kids. I was a misfit. Socially awkward. Always have been. Never fit in anyplace. Never was like other kids. Made friends ok. Still have some of those same friends today. One person stood out. One person that was like me. I connected with this person on some level. A different kind of friend. Someone who got me. Who said it was ok to be me. Weird and different wasn’t so lonely anymore. I didn’t know what it was. For the first time, I just felt “normal”. We were just friends. We laughed. We talked. We passed notes. We were just friends. We muddled through sixth, seventh, eighth grade. Always in the same class. We were just friends. Always leaning on each other. There were people who passed in and out of our lives. Disappointments and pre-teen angst. We were just friends. We went to high school. Joined ROTC and Drill Team together. Through that, we learned there were others similar to us. We felt we finally belonged someplace. We were just friends. As ninth grade faded into summer, we talked and talked and talked. We learned to drive. We saw movies and spent lots of time together doing nothing. Saying nothing. Got jobs. Went to prom. Exchanged quick notes at the lockers or shared the occasional lunch. We were friends but there was something more. Tenth turned into twelfth which quickly left two weird kids on a football field one humid Georgia evening, dressed in cap and gown, wondering what excitement the world had in store. Still friends but there was something more. We went to college together at first then to separate places. Still talking. Dreaming. Planning. Because there was something more. College was ending. Being apart becoming unbearable. Great thought was given to a ring design. A special ring. A different ring. A symbol like no other except the match that he would wear. There was something more.
26 years ago I married that weird little kid from 6th grade who was so much like me. That kid that I saw and thought (without knowing why) “oh, there you are” and we were just friends but there was more. So much more.
Thank you for your friendship. For not judging me. For always, no matter what, never giving up. I hearted you first because I knew. You were kind. You were passionate. You were smart. You were awkward. You were different. You were weird and a little insane. Your smile alone made my day. You made me laugh. You made me happy. You made me…”me”.
I heart you forever.
