Erin

I met Erin wayyyyy back in first grade. I’m pretty sure that we were fast friends.  One of my first memories of her is gifting me Melvin Berger’s “Germs Make Me Sick.” At the time I was happy as a clam to have somebody give me a book, but now I’m wondering if she just thought that I was germy. I probably was germy…all kids are germy. (I can say this because: 1. I have a kid. 2. I taught 1st grade and got to see it first hand.)

Anyhow, Erin is in my circle of girlfriends from childhood that I can call upon at anytime and they’ll help me out or be able to remember the smell of the cafeteria, balance boards and the name of the recess teacher that we were all afraid of. She’s that kind of friend….lifelong, literally.

Except for the few years she moved away to Colorado, got married and had two babies, we’ve stayed in pretty close contact. In high school we filled countless notebooks writing letters back and forth, spilling our guts out, making collages and wondering what our futures held. While she was in Colorado we still wrote tons of letters, but the level of frequency wore off with work, babies, husbands and life taking precedent.

But now she’s back with her two kids and husband, Karl, and has set up house in A-Town. I can’t say how excited I am about this, but a funny thing has happened. I’ve found myself not having as much time as I’d like to connect with her. We’ve both got so much going on and sometimes between three kids (her two + Mags) our phone conversations fall short and our play dates are never long enough.

They came and had dinner at our house a few weeks ago and we get to go see them this coming weekend, but I already know that it won’t be enough. But you know what? It’s okay. I mean, I did meet her all the way back in 1st grade, so we’ve got all the time in the world to talk shop. It’s not like she’s a new friend or anything.