The other day while perusing a Caringbridge site for a friend's baby (Cash Caywood) who has a dreadful type of cancer, I stumbled across the email address of one of my closest friends from my days in Ringwood. Her name is Janeen Scheurer (Fritzler now) and we were the best of buddies while growing up. She lived right down the road from me. I have so many memories with her . . . staying overnight at one another's house . . . sneaking out of one another's house (sorry Jim and Joann!) . . . going to church together . . . . riding bikes to one another's houses . . . you name it . . we did it. It was such an innocent time in my life. I always said I wanted to get the heck out of Ringwood and here I sit at 35 year old . . . longing for the simple life I had growing up.
And I miss my dear friends.
Back to Janeen - I emailed her and she was just as surprised to hear from me as I was to find her. We've talked/emailed every day since and I'm planning a trip to Enid in a few weeks to visit her. She has 3 kids (2 from her first husband, Mark and one from her current husband, Jay). It seems so odd that we are grown with children and families of our own. Some days I still feel like a child . . . . like I'm just pretending to be a grown-up.
Janeen knows that person that few people get to know today . . . the REAL Jennifer. She knows my past . . and all the good and bad things about it that make me who I am today. She's knows the person that comes out when I quit hiding from my feelings. She understands that underneath my dry sense of humor is a person with a wide range of feelings and emotions. She remembers me when I was that kid that wet the bed . . . when I thought my cat, Felix, had died and I was tore up . . . when my parents divorced . . . . when my sister went crazy and my parents all but forgot about me as they tried to figure out how to "fix" her . . . when I got my heart broke . . . when I started driving and we'd take "Big Red" to Enid to go cruising down Van Buren . . . . when I went to prom. There is just so much history there and it feels good to talk to her and know that she just gets me.
I'm so excited to see my dear friend again. Though it's been over 10 years since we've seen each other, it feels as if no time has passed. We both have a few more battle wounds . . . but deep down we're still those two crazy girls playing in her dad's hi-lo camper in her backyard.
Pool's Open!
12 years ago