Remembering a Special Friend

My original thoughts for this post revolved around awkwardness. Today I was talking to the school nurse and another teacher about potty training. We all have 2 year olds, within a few months of each other. They have boys, but both of them have also had girls in the past 8 months - we were pregnant together. Anyway, as I learn that they are having the same issues with potty training, it made me feel better. But then the conversation turned into them talking about how bad it sucks to have 2 in diapers. What do I say to that? I wanted to scream - don't you know how much I wish I had THAT problem? Would you rather be ME? But I bit my tongue, as I so often do. If I said everything that was on my mind, no one would want to be around me - negative Nancy. I can't help it - I know their problems seem big to them, and would have seen big to me 3 months ago - but these days, the things most people complain about are just so insignificant in the scheme of things. Honestly, you want to complain about your kids fighting? I wish my kids COULD fight, but sadly, they've never even met on this earth :(

When I got home - after my daily cry in the car - there was an envelope from an address I didn't recognize. Curious, I opened it. Inside was this:

And a note from a friend from long ago. Just for background information, I went to Catholic school from grades K-8. It was a small school, my class only had about 15 students. We were all like family. For high school, I went to public school and some of my friends went to the Catholic high school. I lost touch with a lot of them, but they are the types of people you can not talk to for years, but if you ran into them, you would talk for hours and be genuinely HAPPY to see (unlike most of my high school friends). I had recently found JS on Facebook. So, she knew of Adelyn's story. She said she saw the ornament and thought of Adelyn and had to get it for me. She was afraid it would upset me and wasn't sure if she should send it. But, she talked to her sister about it who reminded her of one of our classmates who was killed in a car accident about 8 years ago. Her name was Kelly, and we lost touch after high school but went to the same college and she randomly lived on my dorm floor our freshman year, so we became friends again. One of the sweetest people you would ever meet. Anyway, JS's sister said it was a sign from Kelly, so she had to send the ornament to me. She even went on my facebook page and printed out the picture of Adelyn's footprints and put them in the frame. How sweet.

So, today, I am remembering a lovely girl by the name of Kelly Haley. Gone too soon at the age of 23. It made me sad to think that I hadn't thought of her in so long. But, way back at a birthday party I had when I was about 8, she gave me this nail clipper set. And for the longest time, I kept it - it was battered beyond belief, but I just could not part with it, knowing she gave it to me. I think I finally did get rid of it when we moved.

Kelly - I hope you gave my Adelyn a big hug when you met her in heaven. You are missed, my friend. I hope your family has found some peace over the years.