Make new friends, but keep the old...

My friend Poet Girl from Governor's School East (Summer '96!) read my blog and saw the posts about my sister and I exchanging packages, so she sent me one of her own. It was so great. A fun book, great CD (how did you know my taste in music so well, Poet Girl?), bookmark of famous women authors, a pretty label pin, chocolates, and some other assorted things, including pictures. My favorite item from the package: see left.

The story of Poet Girl and me is pretty impressive, as is the story of any true, enduring friendship. We met a Governor's School in North Carolina, a summer program at a small college in NC for academically gifted students. We were both in the English program, her for poetry and me for prose. We didn't room together, but we were friends from early on. We read each other's writing, supported a friend who had a rough summer, played in the rain, ran from the scary geese who lived near our dorm, and generally had fun. After that summer, it was two or three years til we saw each other again -- and we haven't since. But something -- a string of a connection -- has kept us friends. Periodically, one of us will find the other one and call or send a letter or an email. Recently, we've been more consistently in touch. She ended up marrying a lawyer in a small, very creative wedding. I married a doctor in a similar scenario. She taught high school English and then I did. I applied to grad school for English, and now she's in a program. When she sent the package, she mentioned how she's always felt like we were good friends, even though we didn't talk all the time. My sentiments exactly.