We all have those days that are just bad—there is no other way to put it. You wake up in a bad mood and any discussion of positivity or silver linings makes your skin crawl with irritation and disgust. I don’t know about you guys, but I perform activities that correspond with any particular mood I may be in. If I am happy, I love to be out and about. If I am sad or angry, I clean—I mean compulsively clean. I organize every single piece of paper, thread and there is not a dust bunny in sight. Well, a couple of months ago that was me—big surprise.
During this emotional, cleaning tirade, I decided to go through a box of old keep sakes. By no means am I a hoarder, but I have kept nearly every single card I have ever received for any given occasion. In the box, I found the sweetest note written on a wide-ruled loose leaf of paper covered in Care Bear stickers. My friend Abbey from elementary school had written that note, and seeing it immediately took me back to our moments at recess and her grandparents’ house.
She was always so kind to me growing up, and whether or not she realizes it, my friendship with her left an imprint on me that I have always been grateful for. The bad mood I was in completely and totally disappeared. By God’s grace, my positively altered mood allowed me go on to have a day filled with productivity that has actually benefitted me to this very day.
A few weeks after I found that note, in my ‘suggested friends’ window on Facebook, guess who I found? Abbey! I immediately added her, but I was a little bit nervous that if I reached out to her it would make me look like a total creep which was definitely not the goal (lol). After a few friendly casual exchanges on status’s, pictures and reposts, I decided to take a little leap of faith and reach out to her and share some of my memories with her and how I found the note she made me!
After I sent it, I smacked my head and said to myself, “Gosh, Takara, you are such a dweeb.” Abbey’s response totally negated my insecurities and she was the same, sweet person I remembered! She told me that we should keep in touch, even if only to reminisce on the good ole days. As kids grow older, naturally, they often grow apart. Whether it is because they change locations or pick up different hobbies, it is a sad fact. However, the silver lining these days is that even with all of the downfalls of social media, it’s so awesome that it allows us to stay connected with people from out past if we choose to do so. I am certainly going to stay in touch with Abbey, and hopefully, rekindle some semblance of our friendship at Thomas Jefferson Elementary.
