I found my long lost friend

MCRD San Diego, 1/2 mile Walk Way Photo by Bob Perry

Recently I decided that I would go and find my friend, The Queen B.  For anyone out there who has ever lost touch with a loved one and then was able to reconnect..you know exactly where I'm coming from.  

We met while serving in the US Marines stationed at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego. We were roommates and quickly became more like sisters...or maybe not because we didn't fight over our clothes.  It was a great combination.  We did not fit in each others clothes or shoes and had completely different taste in men so dating and partying was never an issue.  The saying "opposites attract" comes to mind.  It was a relationship between two friends made in heaven.

Over time we went through a lot in love and work.  The military, our superiors, preparing for inspections or getting ready for a date was always a partnership.  We would cry, laugh, vent, love and hate, but at the end of the day, our friendship endured.  We managed to keeping an eye out for each other and never even thought about the future, which as an adult we know it means "we're only here for two years or three years" then we get orders and we go our separate ways.  We were young adults (18-21) with a paid room, paid food, uniforms, a set schedule and set expectations for our jobs.  It's not rocket science nor was it hard, except maybe the part when higher ranking people would tell us what to do, when and where and for how long.  But that was part of the job and were both good at what we did.

The time eventually came and although we tried hard to stay in touch, get our kids together to play, etc. With no electronic communication and each of us moving our families every few years, we lost all communication and now 16 years later we found each other again.  Over the last few days we have spent endless hours catching up on Skype.com and planning a reunion.  We found out that we once lived only six hours apart and now we are 23 hours apart--ouch!  Well, that's why we have airplanes, no big deal. 

I'm excited to see my long lost friend and spend some quality time catching up and relieving some of our adventures as female Marines--we'll be sitting in a quiet place where no one can hear us because we keep reminding each other of things that we probably forgot for good reason. 

My advice to anyone out there just thinking about finding that lost loved one, don't wait like I did.  Life is too short to waste it just thinking about doing something we know we ought to do.