This weekend I will be conducting what I like to call a time machine experiment.
I will be returning to my hometown of Natchez to visit my best friend from high school. And I know that she and I will be taken back to a time when we didn’t have a care in the world, when the future was wide open and we swore we would know each other forever.
My best friend Tori and I instantly connected when we were a mere 14 years old. Introduced through mutual friends, I knew I had a friend for life when she understood my goofy sense of humor, she actually listened when I had something important to say, and she was willing to stand by me even so early in our friendship.
It wasn’t long before a few phone calls turned into eating lunch together at school, outings over the weekend and being accepted into each other’s families as if we were blood kin.
There were seats at each of dinner tables for one another. A knock was not required upon any visit. And our parents looked out for us as if we were each their own.
Tori was my side-kick, my often partner in crime, my shoulder to cry on and my co-pilot on many adventures.
And then life happened.
We ventured off to college; she to the University of Southern Mississippi and I to Delta State University. We promised each other to remain close and keep contact. And for about six months, we kept that promise.
But soon the phone calls and visits became few. And then there were practically none.
But still, when anyone asked me who my best friend was…Tori was my reply.
Flash forward a few years, I received the horrible news that my first cousin had died. Within seconds, I was on the phone with Tori. And within a few hours, she was crying with me as tried to make sense of the tragedy.
That same scenario played out again when Tori called me in tears to tell me about the passing of her mother. I was devastated because I looked at her mother almost like my own. She would often cook meals for me, give me a bed when I was tired and console me when I needed it.
And true to the bonds of friendship, within a few hours I was by Tori’s side as she prepared to bury her mother.
Husbands and children later, Tori and I have grown more consistent in our contact. I think it might be the fact that we are getting older. We have buried family and friends. And we have lost others through the trials of life itself.
I think we both realize the true value of friendship now, and that life is passing every day. When you find that true best friend, you hang on to them. They are really hard to find and keep in life.
This weekend, I will once again break bread with Tori as we celebrate her father’s birthday. It will almost be like I am a teenager again with my seat at their family table.
And from there, I can bet Tori and I will go buy a milkshake from the famous Malt Shop and head to the hills to watch the sun sink into the Mississippi River just like we did many nights as kids.
We won’t have a care in the world. The future will still remain wide open. Many things change in our lives as we grow older, but true friendship doesn't.
