365 Days to 30/365 People Who Were Along for the Ride

Day #256 - Mrs. N.

Mrs. N. was the mother of my good friend, Kristin. Kristin was one of my skating buddies. I don't think I have any photos of her here, but this is a photo of Kristin and I.

Kristin's parents were both really dedicated to her skating, but I remember the thing that always amazed me the most about Mrs. N. was that she didn't have her driver's license. For someone like me who had been dying to drive forever, I simply couldn't believe this!

Mrs. N. passed away a few years ago, sadly shortly just before Kristin's wedding. I can still hear her voice if I listen real hard.

Day #255 - Enes R.

What a strange happening that Enes came up the day after Lisa. You see, Enes was one of my high school classmates at Friends. Not only was he that, it was Lisa that brought him to Friends and Lisa who he lived with. Enes was from Bosnia (and if you remember, in the 1990s, Bosnia wasn't exactly the best place to live). Lisa was, I believe, personally responsible for bringing Enes and several other students to Friends from Bosnia.

Enes was sweet and kind. A situation like Friends could have been completely overwhelming, but he embraced it. He stayed in the United States for college and last I heard was working in Detroit as an engineer. I hope life has treated him well.

Day #254 - Lisa D.

Lisa D. was the Head of School at Wilmington Friends when I first enrolled there. And similar to Landis G., she took a chance on me, really setting in motion the series of good events that has been my life since.

What I remember about Lisa was that she was soft-spoken, and kind, but could be tough when she needed to be. She was the kind of teacher (and leader) that you didn't want to disappoint. Neither she nor Landis are at Friends anymore, and I'm not sure the School could possibly feel the same without them.

Day #253 - Bobby P.

Bobby was first thing, my neighbor on Shadow Lane. Secondly he was my classmate at Wilmington Friends.

When Bobby and his family (including his older brother) moved into our neighborhood, we had heard about the two mysterious, good-looking neighbors we had acquired. No one really ever saw them though. And then I transferred to Friends and there was my mysterious neighbor in my class. Even though I had never met him before, it was nice to know there was a neighbor at my school

Bobby was a kind, fun guy.  All the girls loved him and his black Jeep (what’s with me and remember nothing but car models?) The last time I saw Bobby was at my wedding eight years ago where he caught the garter. Lucky guy. ;)

Day #252 - Sue F.

Sue was my sorority sister at Lehigh, and consequently Molly’s “little sister.” Sue was always fun to spend time with and I remember that she was also very smart. She and Molly had a lot in common, but the main thing was that they were both engineering majors. Which always impressed me.

Day #251 - Jeff C.

You know Molly is one of my dearest friends. I care so much about her, and although you know how proud I was of her for joining the Marines, there was also some hesitation. And then to hear she was dating a fellow Marine, well there was more hesitation.

That fellow Marine was Jeff. And he is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. He came with Molly to stay with us about two and a half years ago during a girl’s weekend. And he fit right into our group. It was so great to see Molly so very much in love.

Molly and Jeff’s wedding was so great because of their relationship. They are so clearly best friends.

Day #250 – Anne B.

Anne was one of my very first friends that I remember spending time with in elementary school. She was also one of my first friends to invite me on a family vacation – to Cape Cod.

Anne then moved to Australia with her family and became my pen-pal (a real pen-pal, not an e-mail correspondence!) I remember her sending me a t-shirt with a koala bear on it.

She moved back to Pennsylvania at the end of middle school but our friendship didn’t pick up. I wonder where she is these days…

Day #249 - Katie B.

Katie was a high school classmate of mine at Wilmington Friends. She left before our senior year and I lost touch with her but have since caught up with her on the wonder that is Facebook.

Katie was on the basketball team with me at friends and I will always remember her love of professional basketball players. She had all these jerseys and watched all the games.

Day #248 - Skid H.

Skid was my boss at the Naval Academy. When I applied for the job (moving to Maryland from Oklahoma), they received 175 resumes for the position. And they told me that. Talk about intimidating. But I knew my stuff. I had been doing what they were looking for for three years at the University of Oklahoma, had a tie to the Naval Academy with Ken graduating from there, and was ready to go.

Skid’s favorite saying was “hair on fire,” which he shortened to “HOF” in e-mails and other correspondence. It was funny because he was writing that a lot especially around the time when I joined the Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame, and I always giggled a little when he said HOF.

We didn’t agree all the time but I did feel like Skid would listen to me. My last act upon leaving the Naval Academy was to make sure that he was listening to me about one particular thing. And I have always felt good since then for standing up for myself and those who work hard, whether it made a difference to him or not.

Day #247 – John L.

Ahh, John L. My college friends will remember him well. John was the boy I “dated” after breaking up with my high school sweetheart. I use the word “date” in quotations because I think our big night out was at Wendy’s and he paid for my Junior Cheeseburger. The rest of our dates consisted of loud date parties, a few kegs on ice, and some other really meaningful events. Ha.

I’m not really sure what happened with us. I know we didn’t have much in common besides our love of Junior Cheeseburgers. I was still getting over my high school boyfriend, and John started dating someone else (who, by the way, I just heard he is marrying!) And so it goes, and so it goes…