Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I Have Really Great Friends



I don't think that anyone had better friends in high school than I did. My friends were the kind of friends that took the right things seriously (school, church, getting into college) and joked around about most everything else (cause looking back most everything else is worth joking about... like AP US History? HYSTERICAL!). We ate our lunches together and then shot our empty KFC boxes off the stairs into the garbage can below. We hung out at each other's houses with each other's moms (We love you Scott's Mom--that's her name as far as we're concerned). We passed around cartons of ice cream at Uncle Bud's park and played steal the flag until the elderly neighbors yelled at us (or Vhar's grandpa whichever happened first). We had fun and we laughed a lot. A bazaar amount really. And I still laugh just thinking about it. But we didn't just have fun, we also loved each other's guts. I knew that any of my friends would do anything for me. Tiff, Kenna, and I were there for each other through it all. Scott would give me great advice. Dave would cheer me up no matter what. Dustin was somebody I could trust and still is. Chris is an absolute genius but somehow makes you feel like you're just as smart as he is (even though its totally not true in my case). Sarah would make me feel like I was a cool person even if I felt completely uncool (You really have to trust a British girl if she tells you you're the bee's knees). I could go on and on about each one of my friends.

One of the best things about these high school friends is that they're not just "high school" friends. We still keep track of each other. Leland wrote everybody on their missions and still remembers everyone's birthdays. Dustin helped Dan and I buy our first house and was a fantastic realtor. Vhari is the glue that keeps us all together--she calls us, visits us, helps us to know what's going on with "the group". Jo throws the world's best holiday parties that people plan their vacations around. These friends are still my best friends.

Last year I got a text from my friend Tiffany. "Have you read Chris's blog?" she asked. "Uh, not today, why?" I said. "Go read it," she said.

So I did.

And it turned out that our good friend Chris had been diagnosed with cancer. I stared at the screen and didn't know what to do. think. say. feel. I was heartbroken. We're only 30. That used to seem old, but now it seems so young. Too young for cancer. Sometime later my friend Scott sent me an email saying that he had an idea. He would be in town for thanksgiving and wanted to host a head shaving party in Chris's honor. Since not everyone could make it in person to Scott's Mom's House in Provo we had skype going and got to see our friends in Michigan and North Carolina as well. All the guys shaved their heads, Vhar and I got pixie hair cuts, Ann and Tiff chopped off some major hair, and some of our braver kids (Coleman included) shaved their heads , too. Even Dan and our friend Julia's husband (who had never even met Chris) wanted in on the action to show support for Chris.

It was really emotional to see all of our dearest friends showing support in one of the only ways we could find for our wonderful friend Chris. I wish we could have all flown to Canada to give him hugs in person, but we emailed him video of the shaving party instead and sent with it virtual hugs and kisses.

His Cancer responded well to chemo and the doctors are deciding what will be the next step. But I know that our next step will be to keep praying and sending happy thoughts to Chris, his wife Brittany, and their 3 cute kids because that's what friends like ours do.

You can read Chris's post about all of us joining "The Hall of Baldness" here.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

I love your group of friends!! What a sweet post. I'm so sorry for Chris. Life is HARD. So, so hard. I absolutely love what you guys did for him and the Hall of Baldness. That is AWESOME!!! I hope that he continues to respond well to chemo. Cancer can be beat! I have a friend your age and her husband was diagnosed with cancer right before Christmas. 30 is VERY YOUNG. Too young. I wish Chris the best. Thanks for an inspiring and beautiful post.

Sarah said...

Megan,
I am moving back to Utah in 4 weeks. We better get together soon! Our group of chums really are the bee's knees! Thanks for posting. I miss your posts

Denae said...

Oh my goodness. I am so stunned and grateful that you posted about this. You guys always did have an amazing group of friends, a group many were envious of.

Best of luck to Chris!!

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