That Boy Who is My Friend

Korey and I met our 8th grade year. Korey was home schooled at the time - his family had moved to Chillicothe just 4 months prior to us meeting. One of my friends, Laura, went to church with him and wanted us to meet. Now remember we're like, what, 13? at the time so by "meet" I mean say "hi" the next time we might just HAPPEN to be in the same place.

that same place happened to be a Chillicothe Hornet football game. I remember Laura grabbing me, taking me to the end of the bleachers and saying "This is Korey!" I remember saying something to the effect of "Hi..nice to meet you!" and then Korey gave me one of the most awkward high fives I've ever received. As my friends and I were walking away I remember shrugging and saying, "well..he's home schooled...so he's just a little weird."

After talking on MSN (instant messaging) pretty much every night the rest of 8th grade and that summer, we were going to be going to the same school. Our interaction was still limited - we didn't have any classes together. We did have a special moment in the day though - I'd leave freshman english class and he'd be leaving another class - we'd pass each other in the hall and always acknowledge one another with a head nod and a small "hi!" then later that night we'd get online and talk like we were best friends - so funny to think about now!

Sophomore year we had a couple of classes together. Mrs. Rule's English class and a history class. Mrs. Rule still claims today that she is the one who brought us together. We started spending more time together because of the plays we got involved with. We then began the typical high school "on and off again" relationship. We were young, silly kids who didn't know exactly what they wanted.

Though we were these silly kids, we were forming a friendship that was real. He quickly became one of my best friends - someone I knew I could always turn to in times of need. He is hilarious - something that I love about him. His family is incredible as well and that has really shaped him to be an awesome man. We kept in contact after high school - updating each other on our lives and such. One word I'd use to describe Korey is "constant." He was always there for me.

Have you ever had a favorite pair of sunglasses? You love to wear them whenever you get a chance. You get excited when it's sunny because you get to wear those glasses! You feel pretty neat when you have them on. Then one day you look for them and can't find them. You search frantically but come up short. If you're like me you get legitimately sad! Those things were the best! You go for awhile without them...you decide you need to move on from those beauties and have to buy a new pair - ick. Replacements. When you wear those "poser" sunglasses you remember how much better you looked in the favorite pair. I've caught myself thinking "man..these glasses SUCK compared to the other ones." You start to remember all the good times you had in those sunglasses...all the memories...you even start to appreciate what those sunglasses meant to you even more now that they're gone...

okay okay I know this sounds silly. but this is how it felt when Korey was no longer in my life.
for a period of 7-8 months this past year, Korey and I had no contact with one another. He was in a relationship with some one and I was dealing with my fun life issues of depression, drugs, and alcohol oh my! (see what I did there?) I remember the moment I realized how much I missed him - I was driving away from my life in Springfield, following the Uhaul with my life packed in it, and I called him. I had to leave a message...telling him that I had made some pretty big changes and wanted to talk to my best friend about it. After there was no answer, I quickly realized that I had lost my favorite pair of sunglasses.

When I finally found those sunglasses this past June, I decided to never lose them again. I let him know that I was here to stay...or "in it to win it" as I like to say. That no matter what, even if we would never be anything romantic again, that I NEED him in my life as a friend. we are once again best friends. he's...the greatest. on October 19 I became his girlfriend once again. and we are doing quite well.

he lives 500 miles away. this is no fun. I am going to Indianapolis December 28 for New Years and we're very excited.

we're very excited to see where our journey takes us.