True Friendship

How It All Started...

We met at Mayport Elementary in first grade. It was a miracle that we met, because as the years passed we would need each other to keep ourselves balanced with school AND home...

As first grade flew by, Veronika and I hung out more and more. We had sleepovers every weekend and our moms became really good friends. When summer came Veronika and I took camps together and tried our best to do EVERYTHING together... literally everything. We would cry if one of us went out of town or got sick or even had a doctor's appointment. One day we decided that we would both grow up and be veterinarian's at the same animal clinic and live in the same house. That we would marry twins was an impossibly funny thing we would say every time someone asked us what we would do when we were out of school and had jobs. I can't remember the feeling of that dream sliding through my head. One day, when we were having a sleepover at my house, I was surprised to see my dad's car pull up. Normally my mom would pick me up. As we hopped in the back seat I could tell something was wrong and I started crying. Veronika looked back and forth between my dad and I, not knowing what to do. I asked what was wrong but got no answer. Veronika and I tried to plat I SPY, but we were both too distracted to even look out the window. Finally my  dad stopped the car and I looked over Veronika and saw we were at St.Vincent's Hospital. I started crying again and felt Veronika give me a hug. My dad helped us both out of the car and we walked inside the clay-colored building. My dad mumbled something to the nurse at the front desk and she pointed toward a sign that said ICU. A couple years before that, my mom had explained that it meant Intensive Care Unit to Veronika and I. I now knew that my mom was hurt, and my bawling got louder. My dad asked the nurse for two of the throw-away hospital blankets. I knew that we were going to be here for a while when dad went back outside to park the car in the 24-hour parking area.