The Phone Call

Yesterday, I called my bestest girliefriend. She lives in Utah, and we met back in the day...when we lived across the hall from one another in our apartment complex, single moms looking for a little something extra. And we found that in each other. We opened our doors and lived in the two apartments simulataneously, each of us caring for the others kids, sharing meals and cleaning up together, throwing dishes away when we didn't feel like cleaning! We made a weekly trek to the laundromat, one of us whisking our little one year olds back through the doors time and time again while the other folded the wash. We pulled out the couch bed and threw sleeping bags for the kids on the floor, sharing family movie night, just the two of us and our three little ones. We wrote magnificent love letters to boyfriends Tammy would meet, and then run from as fast as she got to know them.

And when she moved away a year after we first met, heading to Rhode Island to pursue a new beginning, I helped her pack up her rental trailer, and cried as she pulled out the driveway, her kiddos waving from the back seat. It wasn't long after that I also moved from our little apartment home...being there was no longer any fun...it just didsn't feel like home without my girlfriend and her kids to share it with. So, Kaeden and I began anew in a new home, while I continued dropping Kaeden off at daycare each morning, running to and from classes, and then to work, picking him up only to have to kiss him goodbye as the babysitter arrived. It was busy back then, but fulfilling. Every spare moment I had, I used to give my little boy my full mommy attention. We shared so much in the hours that didn't occupy school and work. And Tammy and I...well, we continued to talk, to share news and ups and downs, but using the good old telephone for our line of communication. Neither of us had much money back then. But we didn't need much...just enough to manage to keep in touch, check in, touch base.

Tammy moved back to Wyoming, then onto Utah. She never was one to stay put for long. A bit like myself, she needed change to keep her interested. But I had no choice then. I had to complete my education to make a life for my son and myself. And it was all working out okay.

Tammy bought me a modem for my computer. She wanted to be able to keep in better touch and knew that we could via internet. We got my computer up and running while she headed back to Utah. The first night I set up ICQ thinking it would be great to chat with my girlfriend. But instead, I met Erwin. First night online, and I responded to some guy from Holland called Eagle...because I had hit an eagle with my truck just days before and my windshield was still shattered from the impact. And, for a project I was doing in school, Holland was my topic. And once that started with him, there was no turning back.

But in the meantime, Tammy and I continued to call, to chat, to be bestest friends....from a distance. She was still the first person I called in a crisis, in moments of panic, or when I just had to share a story about my new 'boyfriend' in Holland. During New Years, Kaeden adn I headed to Utah to spend some time with Tammy and her family. While I was there, Erwin first told me what I love you means in Dutch. That moment, I shared with my girliefriend, Tammy. When Erwin made trip plans to visit, she was the first I called to cry out in giggles and yet fear. When Erwin and I got married, she was the maid of honor in my wedding. She is my bestest girliefriend, afterall.

Yesterday, I got an urge to call Tammy. These days, we don't talk quite as much...the time change is huge, and while she is at wotk, I am home, while I am sleeping, she is awake. But she still never leaves my mind. Yesterday, I needed to touch base, hear her voice, talk with this person who knows me from inside out, and still loves me, more than I sometimes love myself.

I got the voice mail. My stomach took a dive. Oh, how I needed to hear her voice. It's been months since we've spoken, and emailing is just not the same. And so I left a message, telling her I love her. And later, after I'd been outside playing with the kids, I listened to my own voice mail, and there was her voice. "Call me at work. I need to talk to you. I wanna know how you are. I have so much to tell you!"

And I called her at woek, and the instant she answered the phone, it was if we have never been apart. We laughed and giggled, we spoke of the serious issues happening in our lives, we shared all those little things bestest girliefriends are meant to share. And when Erwin came home from work, she told me to go and enjoy my husband, and she'd talk to me again soon.

Soon. Speaking to my bestest girliefriend. Doesn't matter when that will be, because soon is always just as if it were today. Our lives change, our missions in life change, but through it all, we have and will remain bestest girliefriends. Tammy. What a multi-faceted woman, wild and yet down-to-earth, rebellious as heck, and fighting to do her best as a mom. She's truly a terrific friend...someone I thank God every day for putting in my life...yeah, my bestest girliefriend.