Becky3

"When I need someone to talk, when times are bad, when I need to share a success, Christin is the person
I count on. Our friendship is something that can't be explained and can't be broken."

Christin and I became friends on Easter 1989. I can still remember that fateful Sunday when I spotted "the little girl across the street." We'd seen her and her family at church earlier. Now her family was taking pictures of her in her Easter dress. I asked my mom if she knew who that little girl was. She said no, but encouraged me to go over and make friends. I was shy, so I dragged my mom across the street with me. We introduced ourselves to the little girl and her mom, Patty. Christin had big brown eyes, and long blonde hair. When she smiled I could see that she was missing her two front teeth. I smiled back, and that was the beginning of our friendship.

Over the years, Christin and I spent a lot time at each other's houses. She was always the boss. Christin was always hyperactive. She was constantly flitting around arranging all our games and deciding what we'd play. She was a chatterbox who could be irritating at times, but that never stopped us from becoming surrogate sisters. I could always see that she really only wanted a friend her own age.

Although Christin went to Catholic school, we still managed to become best friends. When Christin came to public school with me in the fourth grade, our friendship grew even stronger. Some of the other kids called Christin "princess," because she was used to getting her way. Growing up with just her mom and her grandparents made her different from most kids our age. She had a big vocabulary, and she developed a flair for writing early. I knew she was spoiled, but I didn't let her get by with things.

My most memorable experience with Christin was one of the many times I spent the night at her house. It was a Friday night and we had rented scary movies. As we watched them in Christin's room in the second story of the house, we got spooked. It was raining outside, but we had the windows open, because it was hot. At a particularly scary part of the movie, I jolted and knocked the screen out of her window. It fell to the muddy garden below. Knowing we would get in trouble if we didn't put the screen back in the window, we snuck downstairs. Her mom was in the living room, unknowingly barring our rescue mission. Christin hurriedly distracted her mom while I went out into the rain. I quickly retrieved the screen, ran into the house up the steps and into the bedroom. Christin came up shortly after. We still laugh about the crazy events that took place that night!

It's been almost three years since I moved from that house across the street. At Christmas, Christin came to visit us. When she got off the plane, just for a moment I could see "the little girl across the street," with her unkempt hair, and her toothless grin. I was reminded of those times and so many more in between then and now. I remembered all the times she's been there to support me and all of the times she's been the only one that understands me. We spent the holidays together, and it was as if we'd never been apart.

While Christin and I don't see each other every day, or even every month, we remain just as close. We talk on the telephone every week and write when the mood strikes us. You'd think the 700-mile distance would drive us apart, but it hasn't. While we remain best friends, forever, we're also sisters at heart.