Somewhere out there

Today is the 14th Anniversary of the Berlin Wall coming down. That means it's my friend Barbie's 30th birthday.

I remember in high school, she wrote an essay about it and how it came down on her 16th birthday. It meant so much to her, living in Germany and seeing the wall just a few years before.

Barbie had a spirit. She still had it the last time I saw her about 5 years ago. Just changed some. But for some reason she let the contact drop shortly after that and I haven't been able to find her again.

Thinking of her reminds me of my other friends in HS. Tammy, Barbie got really close to her. She was a sweet girl- I envied her dark curly hair. I heard she died years ago from the heart problems that had always been with her. Tammy I never said it, but you were a friend and you ARE missed by more than you would have known.

Eileen- so imaginative and so downtrodden by her father. Stephen, what a goofy guy.

Further back. Susan, my lost friend, one of the trio. Such artistic talent! Last I heard from her she was living hours away from my home in NC (ok, quite a few hours as her dad was stationed in Andrews). But of all the places we could have been sent after the Philippines, that was pretty close. The other third of the trio- Calonte. We kept in touch even in college and somehow with her moves and my moves we lost touch. I emailed her dad and never got a reply. Searching for one of them later, I found out why no reply- he had died. The obituary was like a slap in the face, I can only imagine how Calonte felt.

There are so many. When you're a military brat friends are like flowers floating in a reflecting pool. Some drift away, some you can almost touch, but they always stay in your heart.