Lylas, Brenda

I recieved a Christmas card yesterday from my very first friend! I met Brenda when I moved to Colorado Springs, CO in 4th grade. My family moved alot and I was always joining classes in the middle of the year. I was assigned Mr. Malfeld's class and remember sitting down at an empty desk, so self-conscious to be joining in the middle of the year, the day and the class! A few minutes later, a tall girl with long blonde hair made a little hidden waving motion at me and we were friends from then on. I lived in Colorado Springs for 3 years before moving to Denver in the 7th grade. Despite the 1 1/2 hour distance, our parents still made sure we got together for a weekend every month or so, and thus Brenda and I stayed friends. When I went away to college and my adult life, we lost track of each other. Years later my mom mentioned that she and dad still saw Brenda's parents occasionally for camping trips and I was thrilled to get Brenda's address. But as often happens in adulthood, another year went by. This year I included Brenda on my Christmas letter mailing and yesterday I heard back! A simple little card saying she was thrilled to have gotten my letter, see my family and that she would call as soon as the holidays were over. Two things I had "forgotten" came flooding back to me, bringing INSTANT tears to my eyes. Brenda was my pretty friend who 1) could not spell to save her sweet life and 2) always signed her notes to me "Lylas" (Love you like a sis). Well, in those few wonderful sentences (in which the handwriting was instantly familiar) she misspelled a word and she signed it "Lylas, Brenda". I sat like a blubbering idiot, bawling, smiling, unable to speak and I'm sure leaving my family thinking I had read something awful, when instead it was a misspelled "bussy" (busy). Love when you get a flood of memories that are so special that its like a little gift just for you.