My old friend Cindy

My last post about walking to school got me to thinking about my old friend Cindy. Her father bought a small acreage and built a house on it that they moved into when I was about 8 years old. This was 2 doors over in a sparse neighborhood where there weren't many kids. So Cindy and I became good friends. We walked to and from school together, we were at each other's houses all the time, and often had sleepovers.

We grew apart in junior high. There were several elementary schools where the kids came to the junior high and a whole new crew of kids to become friends with. She hung out with the girls who were into sports and I hung out with the kids in my band class. We were still friends, just the closeness from being little girls was gone.

We went to different high schools because my parents bought a house in another part of town while renting out our old house that we eventually moved back to. I saw Cindy only a handful of times during high school. She was heavily into dating boys, and that wasn't my thing.

Cindy got married shortly after high school and I went to university out of town. Cindy and her husband rented the house next door to her parents, so I still saw her from time to time. I'd drop over for a visit when I was in town.

Then she moved and I didn't see her for the longest time.

One day when I was in my early 20's I was shopping at a mall in another part of town. I was heading to an escalator when I heard someone yell "Cheryl". I paused for a moment, then decided it was for someone else. I mean who could know me in this area. I continued and then I heard another yell: "Hey, Cheryl, wait up a minute." I stopped and turned and there was Cindy. We sat down for a bite to eat and got caught up. It was like no time had passed between us.

That was the last time I saw her.

In the 90's my parents moved to another house in a nearby community. Oddly enough their next door neighbors were related to Cindy's family. One of them was cousins with one of Cindy's parents. They were going to a wedding for Cindy's older sister, I believe her 2nd or 3rd marriage. But they caught me up on Cindy. She divorced her first husband and remarried. A man from California so she moved down there. I believe they said San Jose, but it may have been another community in the San Francisco area.

I've checked Facebook a few times but so far haven't caught up with her. But I know I will one day.