“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.”~Oprah Winfrey
At last this day did come! And it could not have been any better.
The apartment complex held our annual pancake breakfast. And I was able to invite someone that I have not seen in a long, long, long time.
Someone that was (and still is) a wonderful and terrific friend of mine. Even if we’ve not seen or spoken to each other in many years. It was one of those awesome moments to where I had my friend before my eyes for the first time in such a long time.
She’s known as “The Bear Queen” and it was that association to that term which helped me remember her name. And now it is the term of endearment that I use for her.
But when my family moved from my birthplace… well, that was in fact the last time I saw her. Just after my older brother’s graduation from high school.
Until today.
The Bear Queen actually essential to my social skills early on as a child. And I think its safe to say was probably my first examples in life of harmless flirtation with girls. My brother played high school basketball and she was part of the cheerleading squad. If my brother was playing, chances were great that she was going to be there too, helping the crowd cheer the high school team to victory.
GO BEARS!!
GO BEARS GO!! BIG BLUE!!
Here’s the thing that will make you catch on faster: At the time (and yes at that young age) I had deemed the entire cheerleading squad as “my girlfriends” and yes… they all thought it was cute. And I got away with it because I WAS cute….. and under the age of 10 years old.
And then in 2010, she had found me on Facebook. But so much time had passed and I honestly couldn’t remember her at first until she explained herself and how she knew me. Then after confirmation from my older brother, it opened the gates to a communication exchange that would happen here and there and it keeps going on.
Come to find out that she would be living close by and then later on, even closer!! So I would attempt everything I could think of to get to see her again. But most attempts would fail. However, I never gave up. One should NEVER give up hope.
I got to see her with my own eyes this morning. I got to meet one of her children, her eldest.
The pancake breakfast is usually a pretty big deal for the complex. It is one of the fundraisers that does very well. And I sitting there in a suit and tie with a newly shaved head hoping to look a bit more proper. Even my sister brought her two children with her to this event.
But I had gone home to settle something before it became an emergency and I just knew that The Bear Queen would arrive when I wasn’t there to receive her and welcome her.
I was right.
I went back to the breakfast and I was told that my friends had shown up.
I looked over and saw The Bear Queen approaching me as fast as her legs could carry her. In a flash was many years of memories going through my head as I saw her face for the first time in many years. All I saw was her face. Everything else around her was a blur.
After the shock had worn off that this was really happening, I settled down next to her and just watched and listened as she spoke.
And we got to buzzing a little bit about our past together at that high school that she and my brother attended. She had forgotten that I called her The Bear Queen, I think she enjoyed that. Its always fun to share things like that with friends. It is her wonderful and beautiful spirit that actually wants me to keep that alive.
It was a wonderful reunion for sure. So glad that I got to see her again after believing that I never would. She’s still as friendly and kind and loving as I remembered. And even though now we’re grown up into adults, we got along just fine.
I’ve always heard of these stories of people getting back together and reuniting with one another after many decades apart. Most of them never really knowing what had happened to the other person. And usually those are family members.
The Bear Queen is most certainly a part of mine as far as I am concerned.
I thought I would never see her again for as long as I lived. But this really does go to show you that anything is still possible.
Dambreaker 