Me and my memory

I'd love to say that I remembered meeting Charlessa and was just as stunned then as I am now, but unfortunately I can't. In my defense I had just moved down here from PA and college and was in the process of meeting the 70 some odd people at HSLDA as well as some of the PHC people and learning which people were in charge of what and all that jazz. Sigh.

But we did run into each other fairly frequently and got to know each other through the activities that happened pretty frequently. (I'd like to make a big thanks to Joli for setting up so many of those!) There were swing dance lessons, plays, ice skating, ballroom dance lessons, student activities, hymn sings, clogging, basketball, rappelling trips, and volleyball. It's sort of rough getting introverts to go out and do things, but I guess we still managed.

But that was about all. Most all the activities were in groups and while we got to be friends, we were still "just friends". (Hence this blog title! I'll bet you never guessed that!) I even dated during this time (didn't work out, but I did get Jeremiah!) and finally moved back up to PA. Now here's where the weird part starts!

I'm a very serious introvert as is Charlessa, and when I moved down to VA, some people never realized it for a year. Ditto for when I moved back up to PA. I would be back down around PHC every long once and a while, and some of the students never realized I left for almost two years! I've never been good at keeping touch with old friends either. But Charlessa turned out differently!

She had come over the day that I was packing up. I was re-painting the apartment before I left, and she helped me out. She had also been a friendly ear, above and beyond my other friends at the time, so after I moved back up to PA, I sent her an email saying thanks and how are things down there where it's nice and warm. Then for almost two and a half years, we exchanged emails every couple of weeks, and I would stop by the college to say hello.

Looking back, it was probably a genuine, God-performed miracle that kept us in contact. You'd have to know how horrible I am at keeping in touch with people, to realize the full magnitude of the miracle, but God kept me at it.

. . . and this is getting long enough, and I'm running short on time at the moment, so I'll pause and let Charlessa tell her side of it.

Continue: The Story: Friends