Day 25 - Christie Hofmockel

Christie is hard to blog about; in fact, I've been putting it off.  To fully express how Christie has impacted my life, I would be sitting in front of my laptop for weeks or more.  I grew up with Christie.  I learned an enormous amount from her and her family and just being a part of such a close friendship.  

Christie and I laughed, cried, and fought; she was the closest thing I had to a sister.  My brothers used to pick on me and I would take out my frustration with being smaller out on Christie.  I would bully her something terrible, not to mention the betrayal and jealousies I've described in previous posts.  I'm beyond lucky she stuck around with me through the years. 

Christie was there through lazy summer days, swimming, softball, golf lessons, tennis lessons, mean teachers, fun teachers, weekly sleep-overs, Oregon trail and number munchers, new friends, mean friends, boys, family problems, adolescence, shaving for the first time, training bras, "feminine products", sex ed, finding playboys hidden away, pets dying, meeting extended family members... basically everything.

Christie meant so much to me, I couldn't bring myself to say goodbye when I moved to Houston.  She went on vacation a week before I moved, so we agreed to say goodbye the morning her family left town.  That day, my brothers were gone and my parents were at work, so I was home alone.  When Christie's parents' van drove up, I froze in my room looking over the front porch.  She rang the doorbell and called my name, but I couldn't move from the spot.  Even now, thinking about it, I get choked up.