Jumping Jack and Bouncing Beatrice

Growing up with eight older sisters, yes that's right, eight older sisters, I never really felt that there was a need for friends outside of my sisters, but there was something about Beatrice McCray that helped me to realize that it was ok to have friends that did not live in my household.

Not sure when our friendship began, but my most vivid memories began in middle school when we were two peas in a pod.

Middle School can be really tough for children with puberty, trying to find their place in the world, school work etc. And during the middle school years, children will do the darnest things. Beatrice and I were usual middle school children who did the darnest things.

In the 80's, yes, the 80's, Beatrice and I attended a middle school, E.T. Belsaw, that had no air conditioning and no screens on the windows in HOT Alabama. (The fact that we were actually able to learn in this type of building and for people to think that it was ok is a whole 'nother blog.) One day, for no particular reason, Beatrice and I jumped out of one of the windows of the school. It was not during class time, so I am not sure why the principal made us write "I will not jump out of a window" 100 times on a brown paper bag. After the jump, we become known to many as "Jumping Jack and Bouncing Beatrice."

This morning I received a call informing me that my dear Bea has gone on. At first, I did not know what to think, but I got up to get dressed for work and found myself in the shower in one of those cries that comes from the depths of the soul. I am in pain..........

I saw Beatrice three years ago during the celebration of our twenty years of graduating from high school, and it was just like old times, as if we had not partied ways twenty years earlier.

It was always comforting to know that my Dear friend and I were breathing the same air and that I could check on her from time to time.

But now, I'm am suppose to go on as if everything is ok, but everything is NOT ok, My Beatrice Is Gone.

I know that she loved deep and laughed often and that is what I loved about her the most!

I'll be loving Beatrice always.