We'd both been 11 when we were enrolled at Our Lady's Convent High School boarding school in Alnwick. That was back in 1982. We came instant best friends. We were inseparable ... I was Teressa's shadow and everywhere she went, I went. We slept in the same room (at times), we sat at the same table during meal times, we walked to & from school together, we studied together, we even got suspended from school together!!!
In 1987, Teressa (& the rest of the "gang") left school to go out into the big wide world of college, university & work. I stayed on at school for a further 2 years, completing 6th Form. We promised each other we'd stay in touch, we'd write (before the days of instant emails), we'd call (before the days of mobile phones), we'd visit each other (before the days we could drive) ... we'd do all we could to stay in touch. How then, did we lose touch?
Since leaving school, our lives have gone in different directions but there are still some spooky similarities. We both applied to join the RAF (Teressa joined up ... I wimped out). We both met our future husbands whilst they served with the military. We both got married. We both drive silver coloured cars. We both worked in customer service. We both got made redundant recently. We both LOVE card making & scrapbooking!
There are some striking differences too. The biggest being that Teressa is a mum!!! She has two beautiful girls who are as cute as buttons. She's so grateful to be a mum ... she's battled through some pretty intense situations in her life, but she's come through them all, stronger and more determined than ever to enjoy life.
The call ended just before midnight, but I didn't sleep very well last night. I was like a little girl again at Christmas time ... so excited, my mind still buzzing from everything we'd said and thinking of all the things still to say. We've exchanged mobile numbers, email addresses, Skpe & Facebook names. With all these methods of communication at our fingertips, we have absolutely NO EXCUSES for not staying in touch.
I found this photo of us together, wearing our lovely navy blue A-line skirts and white knee high socks. I'd taped the photo into an old exercise book and written a note on the page to say who, when and where. I carefully removed the tape (as anyone who scrapbooks will know, Sellotape is evil!!!) in order to scan the photo. Imagine my surprise then when I turned the photo over ...
Thank you Teressa for being my best friend at school and for being my friend again now.
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