You've Got a Friend

i am not a girlfriend type of person. i am 48 years old and you can count on your fingers how many TRUE woman friends i have ever had. i have a lot of baggage lately and there are few people who understand.

this week i am losing one of the best friends i have ever had--Erin Neylon. i am so very happy for her because she is stepping into the future that she really wants. i am so very sad for me because she is one of the few women that i have considered a real friend. And when I say friend i mean so much more.

i met erin when i was assigned the room next to hers at school. she very patiently showed me "the ropes" and we started talking about our lives. we became friends.

since then we have shared tons of conversations, good and bad things in both of our lives, but definitely erin has been a better friend to me than i have to her, and i regret that.

she unquestionably has my back when others made things so difficult for me at WCY, she has come to my bedside with dinner after surgery, she got in her car and arrived 15 minutes later when my family was in canada and a doctor gave me a horrible (albeit wrong, thank God)
diagnosis. erin gave my daughters swimming lessons, helped them with their math, and always had a treat for them at every holiday.

it was a running joke that i never had the right "important paper" at the right time. even when my classroom moved all the way across the campus, there was always a student at the door, with the paper, saying "mrs. neylon thought you might need this".

i celebrated erin's wedding to her soul mate, matt. she was stunning and unflappable when it rained like a hurricane (lol) all over her outdoor wedding.

and erin celebrated our journey to jia every step of the way....never once asking "why?" like almost everyone else did.

if you are reading this and you know erin, you know exactly what i mean. if you are reading this and you don't know her i wish you did. she is truly one of those angels on earth.

Erin loves my children, erin understands when i disappear into my house and can't come out.

my daughter anna just said "but mommy, you will always be friends, and that is true for sure, but my heart still aches.

i know that erin will show up a lot to see her beloved hurricanes play, won't be able to keep her away from that. but just knowing that she is so far away will put a little crack in my heart.

erin, i wish you true happiness, success and the one thing you want the most. whether you know it or not--i am here for you always.

thanks for not being a "gator hater" and i will tell you that I wish those hurricanes a successful season, just as long as they don't get in our way somehow...

i'll see you later my sweet friend....
here is a song from James Taylor, written a long, long time before you were born...

"Hey, ain't it good to know that you've got a friend? People can be so cold. They'll hurt you and desert you. Well they'll take your soul if you let them. Oh yeah, but don't you let them. You just call out my name and you know wherever I am i'll come running to see you again.