April 1, 2004

• This is Eric…

  
  

  

  
  

  This is pretty much how I remember him looking when I last saw him almost 12 years ago…long hair and all!!

  
  

  
  

  

  
  

  This is how he looks now!!

  
  

  He had to cut off his lovely locks for his position with Disney in Orlando.

  
  

  Eric and I went to high school together in Garland, TX.  I moved there when I was 15 after my Mom was transferred there for her work.  I stayed with my Dad for a while in Michigan, but then couldn’t take his drinking anymore and decided to go live with my Mom in Texas. 

  
  

  Eric was one of the first people that I met at the high school that I was attending.  He claims that when he saw me that I was “a breath of fresh air” for that place.  I don’t know about all of that…but I do know that I felt really out of place there until I met him.

  
  

  I grew up in a small town in Michigan and here I was in this enormous city with these astronomically huge schools…they looked more like college campuses than high schools.  The people there were all into country music and such and here I was with my torn jeans (which I was quickly informed that you weren’t allowed to wear there) and rock t-shirts (which were also not allowed).  I stuck out like a sore thumb!

  
  

  I thought that I wasn’t going to meet anyone who I would have something in common with.  That was…until I saw Eric.   He had beautiful long black hair and wasn’t much taller than I (I’m only 5’3″ btw) .  He introduced himself to me and I thought “thank you God! there’s atleast ONE person I have something in common with here”.

  
  

  Well, I wound up dating a friend of his and Eric and I became close friends.  I also wound up singing lead in the band he was in.  Yeah, those were the good ‘ole days.

  
  

  For my 16th birthday, Eric bought me my first (and only) bass guitar.  It was beautiful! A bit expensive as well considering it cost him over $200…mind you…we were teenagers…that’s a lot of money for broke teenagers.

  
  

  I used to sneak over to his house in the middle of the night when I needed to talk…he never minded, we’d sit in his room talking for hours.  Of course, my boyfriend at the time didn’t like it much and neither did his girlfriend, but that didn’t stop us. Nope…we were best friends and we had a bond that was much stronger than we’d ever known before.

  
  

  Well, I wound up pregnant after a while…and the father of the baby wasn’t much of a father at all.  He left me for an underage girl (like 15 or so).  I wound up having to take my daughter and leave the state because her dad was threatening to kidnap her and he had gotten himself involved in some pretty bad stuff.  So, in order to keep my daughter’s whereabouts from him…I left without telling anyone where I was going…especially Eric.

  
  

  See, because my baby’s dad knew how close Eric and I were…I knew that he’d go to Eric first to find out where I was…I didn’t want Eric to be put in that position, so I didn’t tell him where I was going.  We didn’t talk again for over 10 years.

  
  

  We have a mutual friend, only through her did we ever communicate at all.  That was until 2 years ago when I got an email from him.    I couldn’t believe that it was really him!  I was SO excited!!

  
  

  After reading his loooonnnnggg email, I replied and we talked on the phone shortly after that. It was like we picked up right where we’d left off!  Anyone listening to us wouldn’t have guessed that we hadn’t talked in over 10 years.

  
  

  Anyway, to make a long story short (I know…too late for that) I’m going to see him next month…and Jason will get to meet him for the first time.  I’m so excited…and neither one of us can wait!!  We’ve been emailing each other almost every day planning out things for our visit. I even get little messages here and there just to tell me that he misses me and can’t wait to see me again.  (awe)

  
  

  See, I’ve lost a lot of people close to me over the years…my dad, several of my closest friends (9 all together).  I know how important true friends are…and while Eric and I were unable to talk to each other…I still thought about him all of the time.  We’ve had some heart to heart conversations regarding that time…and I’ve learned that he thought about me just as much.  We’ve both grown a great deal over the years…but one thing remains, I will always love him and he me.  His is now, has been…and always will be the closest person to me other than my husband.

  
  

  I’m lucky…I have him back in my life and even more than that…in the meantime I found the love of my life. Two very special and important people to me…people that I won’t ever let go of…

  
  

  So yeah…here’s Eric…doing what he knows how to do best…making me smile.

  
  

  

  • 1:17 pm
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