Cause the Welcome Will not End

I'm not a good friend.

I will lose touch with you in a day. Not because I don't like you, but because I'm a jerk.

I could probably go years without talking to a friend and not really realizing it. One day, it will just kinda hit me. "So I was talking to Pete the other day . . . wait. That wasn't the other day. That was like . . . Oh man! That was in February!"

I know. I'm a jerk.

I had this friend back in the day, Cassandra. She lived across the street and was really the first girl my age in my neighborhood.

So of course, I was kinda leery at first. This was my turf! But it didn't take long for us to become practically sisters. If I wasn't at her house, she was at mine. She was there to help rile my dog up. We watched Dirty Dancing a couple of hundred times and made up our own dances. Yeah. We were those girls.

At Christmas, we used to exchange presents. One year, I gave her and one of my other friends each a piece of one of those "Best Friends" pendants that's broken into pieces. We were that kind of pals!

So when she moved back to California, I was pretty sad. Cassie and I promised to write all the time. And we'd call each other when our parents would let us. You know . . . this was before the internet and free long distance.

And of course, I think I wrote once.

I got a message from someone on MySpace the other day. She didn't think I would remember her, but how could I forget the Milli to my Vanilli?

You know how sometimes you're really close to someone but when you meet again years later, it feels very awkward? And you can't really get past small talk? I have that problem with a lot of old friends, even in print.

But not with Cassie. She and I can still ramble without hesitation.

Cassandra's still in California. She's married and has two cute little boys. She seems to have some bad taste when it comes to dressing her kids. One was wearing a Cornhuskers outfit.

I was really glad to hear from her. I've thought of her often and always hoped she was happy and well. It's nice to see my hopes turned out right!

Hey Cassie--I still have my piece! Do you have yours?

We should totally start wearing them again! That'd be so rad!