My way of saying Goodbye

It's been two weeks since I found out one of my best friends from high school died.  Is it crazy to feel like part of you is missing, when you didn't even know that part was still there??  Joseph and I met in high school and instantly hit it off.  Our senior year we went to every function together and were best buds :-)  After we graduated we stayed in contact and then went on a super fun road trip to Colorado.  One of the funniest memories from that trip was that when we stopped at a motel (we were trying to save money, so shared a room, just made sure there were two beds!) it was super late and we were exhausted.  This was the only room we could find and after checking in and asking for two beds, we went to the room only to discover there was only one bed.  The look on Joseph's face was priceless!  He stammered and sputtered and then finally pulled the mattress off the bed, he slept on the box springs and I slept on the mattress.  Guess you had to be there!

Christmas of 1992

A year or so later, I moved to Chattanooga - where once again we we totally inseparable.  Joseph lived only a couple of miles away and we spent lots of time together.  After a year or so, I moved back home and would frequent Chattanooga when time allowed, always had a place to stay on his couch, I'm sure his roommates got tired of me!!

Valentines - 1993




We eventually drifted apart, I got married, went from Boston to Denver to North Carolina and lost touch.  I heard snippets of his life from mutual friends, but we never really connected again.  I just knew he was there and every time I heard of him, it made my heart happy.  He was one of my rocks, the solid good guy!!

So it was a major surprise when I heard he had died and I've been weirdly grieving ever since.  Tonight I went through all of my old annuals and scrapbooks -- thought I'd share a few pictures, all from our senior year.  This is my tribute to the guy I can honestly say knew how to love unconditionally.

Junior/Senior Banquet, Spring 1993 - I love his smile in this one!

This one is my all time favorite - I had been super super sick and didn't know if I was going to be able to make it back for the banquet -- Joseph put up with it all and treated me like a princess. In a lot of these pictures, I was so weak he was practically holding me up. This is a rare moment between "poses" we were talking and just enjoying being with each other!

A couple more from graduation weekend -- Joseph and I sat next to each other at every part of the program, so I don't have any pictures of us together - if you look close in this one, you can see me behind him, so that we could be beside each other and not opposite.

This last one is a group of guys that were mischievous!!  Had to put it in.  Super good group of guys and good friends.

Amazing how much better I feel, loved looking through and reliving all these fantastic memories.  Thank you for allowing me to just be and put together a memory page.  There are so many emotions that I can't begin to describe them all, but by looking at these pictures, my heart is healing.