Goosebumps

The other day I started thinking about my best friend growing up.  She and I have known each other since we were about 3 years old.  As little girls, I was the loud one, always wanting attention.  She was quite and shy.  Afraid to speak up, she would whisper something to me and I would ask my parents for whatever it was she wanted.  The only caveat was that her "whisper" was like one of those stage whispers where everyone could hear what she was saying.  My dad still chuckles about it.

She and I dealt with a lot of stuff together over the years, so needless to say we were very close. But once in college we, like a lot of friends, talked less and less.  Of course we kept up with each other through letters, email, birthday cards, etc...but we didn't talk every day like we once did.  Still, she is the closest thing to a sister I've ever had and I think she would say the same.


So anyway, I was thinking about her and how we hadn't talked in a while. I realized it had actually been a long while; 4 months or so. I thought I should call or email her but I kind-of pushed the thought aside during the day because I had a lot of work to do.  

Again, the following day she popped into my head and the thought crossed my mind that I should give her a call.  But yet again, I had a lot of work to get done so I ignored the thought.  

Finally, on Friday as I was driving to court she crossed my mind again so I gave her a call.  She didn't answer so I had to leave a message:

"Hey, Its Lesley.  I was thinking about you today; actually I've been thinking about you over the last couple of days, and just wanted to give you a call to say Hi.   Hope everything is going well.  Give me a call when you get a chance.  Talk to you later."


She called me back about 5 minutes later.  


"Hey!", I answered.

"Hey.", she said.  She sounded a little pensive. Then she dived in:


"Its so weird that your message said you have been thinking about me over the last couple of days.  I was so happy to hear your voice when you called.  My grandmother died two days ago and this has been a rough couple of days."

I immediately got goosebumps. We both sensed the weirdness of the situation, and I got a little choked up at the relief in her voice.  After I expressed my condolences, we continued to talk because she wanted "to hear about, something, anything" besides what had been going on with her the past couple of days.
I told her about my trip to Spain and she laughed at my crazy life.  "You just told me you went to Spain in the same tone as if you were saying you had just gone down to the 7-11.", she said, laughing.  It was good to hear her voice too and I was happy to provide her with some sort of distraction.


After we got off the phone, I was still reeling from the timing of everything.  I called my dad to tell him about it.  He didn't seem all that shocked.  "I put a lot of stock in stuff like that", he said.  "Sometimes you just have to listen to your instincts. When you're friends with someone for that long, there is a connection." 

I got to thinking about all the time my instincts had tried to tell me something, and how I tend to ignore that side of my brain.  I could have avoided a lot of heartache if I had just listened to myself from the beginning of most situations.  Regardless, I was glad that, this time, I had listened and reconnected my friend in her time of need.