Forgotten Friends

I ate some chinese food yesterday and got a fortune cookie that said. . .

"YOU WILL BE REUNITED WITH AN OLD FORGOTTEN FRIEND"

I was actually quite pleased as:

1. This seemed to be an actual fortune and not simply a cute saying
2. I often think about "forgotten friends" and wonder where they are and what they're doing

 People like my 1st college roommate Kathy and our next door neighbor and honorary roommate Kurtis. (*yes these pictures are photos of my scrapbook pages.  Haven't digitalized any of them yet, so you'll have to bear with the fuzziness).

 The three of us spent at least a full semester as tight as three peas in a pod.  We saw each other everyday, laughed, played, cried, worked, and overall had a great time together.  Unfortunately, we lost contact with Kurtis when he moved that following summer and quit returning our emails.  Kathy and I lived together another year, and kept in contact for a few years after that.  I got a Christmas letter from her last Christmas and meant to answer it, but somehow it got put away and didn't surface again until this Christmas Season.  I sent her an email several weeks ago but have yet to receive a response.  Such good times we had together and I have to admit I was very lucky to be surrounded by these two wonderful people my first time away from home. 

Then there's Terra.  She was a roommate from my second year of college.  We lived with Kathy and a fourth roommate in a basement apartment just up the street from campus.  I loved living with her and we became fast friends.  We both joined the institute council and had a lot of fun planning and attending institute functions.  She was a freshman and I loved being able to relate to some of her feelings and anxieties about her first time at college (having become an expert at it already since I had a year of experience by this point).  We parted ways the following year although remained in the same ward for a year and saw each other on campus from time to time after that.  Last I knew she was getting married and having a baby.  Sadly we lost touch after that.  But I think of her every time I pop the mixed CD she made me into my car to jam a bit Terra style. 

  The following summer I worked as a camp counselor at a Girl Scout Camp in McCall Idaho and met some great girls.Two of my favorites were Daisy and Iris.  (No those are not their real names.  We went by camp names - I was Paprika - which is part of the reason I doubt I'll ever be able to track them down, since I don't even recall what their real names are).  Daisy was one of the funnest, most down to earth people I met that summer and Iris was a kindred spirit who had a bubbly infectious personality.  Every week we were paired up and put in charge of a group of campers.  I loved the weeks that I got to work with Daisy.  Some of my absolute favorite times were with her.  Like our canoeing week where we spent most of our time on the lake in canoes. 

I'll never forget one day when we were making our way across the lake from visiting an island in the middle.  Daisy and I were bringing up the rear of the group with the lifeguards at the front and the girls paired up and spread out in between.  At one point we noticed two girls that weren't making very good time.  It quickly became apparent that one of them was stubbornly refusing to paddle which was why they were moving so slowly.  We explained to her that we were never going to make it back unless she decided to paddle, so we'd just sit there until she was ready.  After a couple of minutes, Daisy reached into her backpack and pulled out her toothbrush, toothpaste and water bottle and started brushing her teeth.  A rather unexpected sight I must say.  I started laughing and grabbed our walkie talkie to radio to shore describing the funny visual while she just shrugged and replied "I didn't have time this morning, and since we're just sitting here"

Iris and I sadly never got paired up since we were both unit leaders which means we were two of the lead counselors of the group, so we could never be assigned to the same unit.  However, we quickly hit it off and had a great time together.  My favorite Iris memory was during the last week of camp.  Our lifeguard had had to go home a week early, so we they hired one of the life guards from the boy scout camp across the lake since their camp finished a week earlier than ours.  The new lifeguard was also LDS and I'd met him at church throughout the summer, so when they told us who it would be and I mentioned I'd already met him, I suddenly became the star of the camp since I had the inside scoop on "the man".  The other girls quickly decided that since we were both mormon we were destined to get married and deferred most all communication with the new lifeguard to me whenever possible.  His first day at our camp was check in day for the week so us unit leaders were all sitting around the check in table chatting and waiting for all the campers to arrive when one of the walkie talkies we used beeped to life and we all heard a deep male voice asking for some help.  Iris, who happened to be holding the walkie talkie at the time screamed a bit in surprise and tossed it at me, telling me she was not prepared to talk to "the man" especially with that sexy deep voice of his. Sadly, I never did get a picture of the lifeguard, so you'll have to take my word on it that he was attractive, but needless to say, Iris was a bit off all week being in such close proximity with him after months of just girls.  Good memories with some "forgotten friends"  I hope I am reunited with one of them someday.