Truly forever

This week, I had the honor and privilege of seeing my friend Cassidy twice. I was excited for this on many accounts, primarily because I didn’t really get to say goodbye before she officially moved to Hawaii to report for duty on the ship to which she is now attached. (She graduated from the Naval Academy earlier this year and is now an officer.) It was also a joy because I was able to witness the world premiere production of a play that she wrote. What made this play particularly special is that Cassidy used many of her experiences as a pre-teen Navy brat as the basis for this story, and I was part of her memory from so many years ago. See, Cassidy and I met when we were both eleven years old, at the height of that really awful gawky girl stage. While I guess everyone goes through that, I don’t know too many people who still talk to peers they knew at that age. That’s probably because we don’t want to remember ourselves at that time, and who can really blame us? But for whatever reason, Cassidy and I stuck. (I suppose, if nothing else, we’re operating under the policy of having enough information on each other to ensure mutually assured destruction should things go south… just kidding, dear Cass!)

Watching the play was a reminder of how far we’ve come, and how blessed I am to have a friend who has been in my life for more than half of it. It was also a joy to see an accomplished writer recognized for her work, watch her words come to life on stage. My dear friend’s resume expanding before my eyes – Naval officer, playwright, who knows what else she will accomplish.
Our friendship has survived a lot – time zones (up to six at a time), high school, her dad's deployments, college. Watching Cassidy’s play, I was also reminded of how much it took for our friendship to survive middle school. While we certainly connected where it came to school, overachievement, Star Wars, writing, and a million other things, Cassidy and I just didn’t see eye to eye on the matter of the opposite gender. She still thought boys had cooties and wanted to start a Baptist convent. And me? Well, I didn’t. Now in the play, my character was a little… how to say it… exaggerated… but it did remind me of the mindless indiscretion of my younger days. (Whether the slightly more educated indiscretion of my older days is any better is up for debate, I suppose… but my character was also played by a blonde who wore pink – bright pink – the whole time, and on those counts anyone who knows me knows better.) (I really am enjoying my parenthetical statements tonight, aren’t I?)

Last night, Cassidy came down from Annapolis and we went to Old Town Alexandria for Thai. Away from the friendly reunions of the Academy and the bustle of the production, we caught up on everything and anything. We spoke of the past, of the future, we laughed and relished our time. We don’t know the next time we’ll be able to sit down and have dinner, with her in Hawaii and deploying sometime next year. We enjoyed dinner, Starbucks, a brisk walk down the cobblestone streets, and talked till we fell asleep. A few hours later, still well before dawn, we said goodbye at the airport. Sometimes there just aren’t words to tell someone how grateful you are for them, how proud you are of what they do. But I tried, and was grateful to have the chance to try before we enter yet another stretch of months and years of only emails and phone calls. And glad to remember that some friends are truly forever.