The Anne of Green Gables to my Wednesday Addams

In middle school I changed schools twice. The second time this bright, happy girl came up and introduced herself to me. I remember being a little wide eyed at her exuberance of me arriving. Never had anyone wanted me to be in their school. From that moment on a friendship was planted and grew.  She was the Shirley to my Laverne, the Anne of Green Gables to my Wednesday Addams, the happy sprite to my wary and awkward dwarf. (German Dwarves with the wonderful red pointy hats, not the Snow White ones.)

We had a year and half of classes together, where we talked on the phone for hours, had sleepovers, shared secrets. Our home lives were very different, but our friendship was true. We went to different High Schools, and then life started to separate us. There are many reasons why, some were miscommunications, some were struggles we each were facing in our lives and time and distance did the rest. 

Then it was 27 years later. One day I sent an email and she answered and the seed of our friendship grew and bloomed again. That is the backstory. It is the tiniest bit of our shared history. If our lives were books all the other stories of our lives, parents siblings, lovers, husbands, boyfriends and life would be written in the margins. A palimpsest of life. It would be messy, a smash book of experiences. There is not enough space here to share it all.

This is the now. We are older now. We are no longer maidens, we are not quite crones, but we are pretty close. We lived lives, so many lives while we were apart. Yet, we connect as if those missing years never happened. While other friends from that time in our lives stayed in one town she and I journeyed. We each traveled on smooth roads, rough terrain, calm lakes, choppy waters and unclimbable mountains that we somehow got across. 

 So let me tell you about the woman that she is to me. When I think of her in my heart and mind she shines so bright. Her soul is one of the most beautiful I have ever known and I do not know how I survived all these years without her in my life. I don’t often think of her as an ordinary woman. She is a swirl of art, music, nurturing, love, joy, magick. She is the sound of wind chimes, the resonating hum of a buddha bowl, the comfort of brushing a horse after a long ride. She still carries innocence in her soul, she still believes in the good despite having experienced more than her share of bad.  She is shared history, and connections to the past. 

She is a quiet force who brings healing and beauty to the world. She holds both God and the Goddess in her soul. She walks a path that is not easy, and yet as she walks she gives pieces of herself to those around her. All those years ago she was my bestie, my BFF. Now she is a sister of my heart, a ride or die, the one I know I can call and she will be there, a witch of my coven if I had one. Sometimes we have to be away from something to truly see how special it is. I think that those who have been in her life throughout all these years do not see just how much of a gift she is.  You cannot spend time with her without being changed by her light. She shows me, and I wish others, the magic that is still in the world.