Once upon a time, there was this shy, awkward girl who's youth minister believed that she had the gift of leadership and promise. He pushed and prodded until she relented and interviewed for a special youth leadership program known as High-LI. After almost botching her interview (she was saved by interference and perserverence of her youth minister), she was accepted into the week long program.
At this program, there was another participant: a cute, boyishly charming, popular blond guy who showed promise of being a great leader. We'll call him Charming. Somehow or other, these two managed to form a friendship. (Probably because after mentioning she was a lifeguard, he managed to dunk her in the pool; more than a few times.)
They lost contact for a bit, until one day, while walking across her college campus, she found herself delighted and surprised to meet aforementioned Charming. With grace and humor, he already seemed to be popular with the boys (and attracted much attention from the ladies, though, I do think he was a wee bit oblivious to this).
The friendship grew stronger. If she was down, there was always Charming. If he was down, he always managed to ring her. They had a ritual you see, where they'd meet for dinner, hug, then chat until both were feeling much better. They'd end the evening with a hug, and both were recharged and ready to take on the world.
She saw the light inside of him, and he always saw the light inside of her. Whenever she felt down, or depressed, or believed herself to be a horrible person, he was there to wipe her tears and give her a hug. Eventually, they feel pray to the evils of VAX and email, and the dinners became less and less. Gradually, as they each found different partners, graduated, and found different ways of life, communications dwindled.
Dinners became rarer and rarer, and once she moved to another state, the dinners and the emails trickled to almost nothing. Occasionally, she'd hear from him if she sent out a hello, and sometimes not at all.
Charming, I know you read this on occasion. I hope we get the chance to meet up this week. Five years is a long time. Talking with you on the phone, hearing your voice, was wonderful. It was a great reassurance to know, that even though we are far apart, we'll always have our friendship. And maybe, next time we won't let so much time pass in between emails, but just in case it does... know that you are never very far from my thoughts.
And just so you know, I've a box of letters I keep and reread on occasions. Several in there are from you.
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