Friends

My mom’s best friend, Terry, was always in my life.  Turns out, my mom had met her once…maybe it was in lamaze classes…I don’t remember for sure…but then they met again when my mom was in the hospital for her bp while she was pregnant w/me and while Terry was there having her daughter, Shannon.  I’m not sure when their friendship blossomed, if it was at the hospital the 2nd time or if it was when they were both waitresses at the same place.  Either way, they've been friends forever.
Her daughter and I are both the same age, so we played together and became friends too.  I can remember staying the night at her house (where she tortured me telling me there was a man in the window - uh, hey thanks for the nightmares Shan!) and her staying at mine. 
One time we were lying on my bed w/our feet against the wall and we put our feet through the wall.  My dad was pissed!  He was screaming at us and smashed my doll-house.
Huh...after typing that last part, it sounds like my dad was a monster…he wasn’t, really…but he was reallllly pissed! And maybe I should add...we didn't just have our feet on the wall - we were actually pounding our feet against the wall.  [insert my sheepish grin here]
When Shannon went to a different hs, we didn’t see each other much. I still saw Terry a lot just from being w/my mom went she went over and Terry coming to our house…then I ended up at the same high school as Shannon my junior yr – only she went to the vocational hs in our district, so again, we didn’t really see each other.
Terry found out she had cancer a few years after we graduated.  Shortly after...maybe before her diagnosis, Shannon had a little boy, Anthony, that was the spitting image of Terry.  It was insane how much he looked like her!
In 1999, while pregnant, I remember babysitting for Anthony.  Shannon was taking me home and she told me how her mom had lectured her to drive carefully w/me in the car b/c I was pregnant.   
A few days later, on 8/16/99, I miscarried.  I was heartbroken.
The next day, on 8/17/99, Terry lost her battle after a long hard fight.  I cried all the time.  Hormones, mourning my baby and mourning someone that was like an aunt to us, it left me with headaches and heartaches. 
One of the best pieces of advice I read shortly after my miscarriage was to name my baby.  I chose Terry Bryce.  Knowing my baby was being cared for by someone I loved so much helped the hurt in my heart.
Fast forward 14 years later and my beautiful daughter, Cadence and Shannon’s beautiful daughter, Kennedy, are now friends.
It makes me happy to see them together…it brings back fond memories of my childhood and every once in awhile, I feel like Terry and my dad are watching their granddaughters play, over a cup of coffee.