Old Friends
Me and Talley, 1991 at Camp Sunshine
For some reason this is one of the few pictures I have of the two of us from childhood. This is strange for a number of reasons, but mostly because from the time we met in October of 1989 until we both headed off to college in the fall of 1999 we were inseparable. We weren’t neighbors or school friends, no I met Talley on the oncology floor at the children’s hospital where we were both treated.
The old story is that I made Talley’s hair fall out. Despite having been diagnosed months before, the kid still had a head full of hair. My Mom had met hers in the cafeteria and she’d told me about the new girl on the floor. I saw Talley being pushed around on her IV pole and told my mom to go ask her mom why she still had her hair. I’d been bald since my second round of chemo, it just wasn’t fair. That night, after my Mom had indeed asked her mom why Talley still had her hair, it began to fall out. And a wonderful friendship was formed.
I have a gazillion (at least) childhood memories that all center around Talley. Riding go-carts instead of getting chemo. Hiding from our doctors in this one nook in the clinic. Getting kicked out of restaurants for imitating our favorite counselor at camp. Raiding boys cabins at camp. Talking for hours upon hours on the phone. Playing Nintendo over the phone (old school NES at that).
Talley was the exact opposite of me which is why we complimented each other so well. She was athletic and could be a bit on the shy side. I was a theater nerd (some things don’t change) and nearly too outgoing for my own good. She was always introspective and good at reading folks whereas I was a judge first figure out if you were wrong later, person. At camp, something that we both lived for, we rarely spent any time together. We were into completely different things, but still best friends.
When we went to college, like most friendships, we went different directions. I started to live in the theater and the library. Talley moved out of state for school and seemed to rarely (if ever) come home. I remember on 9/11 I called her mom just to touch base and she promised me that all was well and that she would always call me if something happened.
Thanks to the magic of the internet we re-connected after about 5 years (since I’ve been married, at least). And now we’re both married, with kids in our lives and have actual adult lives.
And some things never change.
