I first met Amanda when she moved to Michigan in what I believe was the fourth grade and I've counted her amongst my friends ever since. In seventh grade Amanda was the first person I ever asked "will you go out with me?" To which she replied, to my surprise, with an emphatic "Yes!" I'd always had a thing for her, so even though I was like 12 at the time I was pretty stoked to call her my girl for the couple months or whatever we were "going steady." Unfortunately it didn't last (shocker, I know) but we would remain friends for a long time, even when she moved to Arizona just a few years later. The memory I'm going to use for Amanda actually takes place in AZ, the last I saw her when we were both graduating high school and our lives were about to go in drastically different directions.
The last time I saw Amanda was when I met up with her while paying a visit to some family who live near Phoenix. It was the first time I'd seen her in a few years and I have to say, she looked stunning. Better than ever. We didn't do anything particularly different or over the top, we just hung out and chatted about life, or mostly about how different they were becoming. I was moving to East Lansing in the fall; Amanda was moving across the Atlantic to Germany. I was as single as one could possibly be; Amanda was just weeks away from marriage. I was picking out dorm posters while she was picking out a house. It was crazy, even crazier to think she's but a few days older than I am. That last day I saw her was the day when one of the more incredible women I've known was about to be taken officially taken off the market, and regardless of how happy I was for her, it still kind of sucked knowing she was going to be married to a German dude living in a village thousands of miles away before I was could even decide which band I was going to commit a year of dorm living to.
For the first few years following that visit, Amanda and I still talked occasionally often through email around our birthdays where we would catch up with everything in each others lives. As I'm writing this though, it has been about two years, but I'm sure it's a little tough to keep a Michigan pen pal when you're raising two young children, something I can't even fathom doing at the age of 22. I'd be lying if I didn't say it's kind of a bummer that we've lost touch, she was always a great friend to me and I miss her, but that's life. People grow up, some faster than others, and it becomes more difficult to make time for people from your past. Especially people who live a world away. I'm sure I'll talk to her again and when I do, I can't wait to hear about all the wonderful things that have happened in her life.
Auf wiedersehen,
Andrew
