I can’t believe Thanksgiving is almost here! It will be the first time in 6 years that I haven’t gone elsewhere for Thanksgiving. I am going over to the house of an old friend who now lives in Houston, but has returned to Atlanta to spend Thanksgiving with her family. I’m excited to see her again!

Ten years ago (when we were in 7th grade), Mrs. Kirschner and my mom got together and decided that since their two daughters were the same age, they should spend the night together. I hardly knew Beth, but that sleepover Thanksgiving of 1995 was the start of a great and enduring friendship. That night, we started our Story. Our Story is significant because it’s all we talked about for the next year (until I moved back to Peru Thanksgiving of 1996). It took place during World War II (yes, this was the beginning of my fascination for 1940s life), and was about two families – next door neighbors. There wasn’t one central plot (hence our difficulty in finding a good title for the story) but rather several subplots involving each of the 13 main characters. It really isn’t a very good story, but we finished it (50 pages typed, single space) and were very proud of it. We would have our moms drive us to the big public library where we would diligently search for things about the home front during World War II in order to make our story more realistic. We discussed earnestly about publishing it and whose name should come first. Then, as the years passed, we realized that this story needed a lot of help and so we put it to rest. :-)

Beth and I have never lived in the same place since 7th grade, but we have maintained a great friendship. She came down to visit me in Peru, and I was proud to be her maid of honor at her wedding two years ago. I miss her a lot and hope that someday we’ll find each other in the same city again. Maybe we’ll be next door neighbors, like our Story (with Beth Z. on the other side of us :-)).

Oh here’s a fun fact, because I love this kind of thing: Beth’s parents are from Muncie, Indiana and were Ball State graduates. Mrs. Kirschner’s family started a church in Muncie, called Westminster Presbyterian Church, which is where I went the whole time I was at Taylor. :-)

I am excited to see Beth again, and spend Thanksgiving with her and her wonderful family. You don’t meet too many people who have been your best friend for 10 years or more, and I’m thankful God crossed our paths the one year I was living in the States!