Old Friends

Whoever originally said, "Old friends are the best friends" was right. Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Bunny. The first time we met was on the day I began college. It was September, 1958. She and I, pretty much the most unlikely of room mates, had been paired up to room together as freshmen at FSU. I didn't know anything about her and she knew even less about me. My Aunt Betty Jean and Uncle James had driven me over to Tallahassee from Jacksonville, where I had arrived via Greyhound bus a few days earlier (at the time my family lived in Hagersville, Ontario, Canado). When we got to the dorm, it was obvious that my new room mate had already checked in and settled into our room, but was nowhere to be found. My aunt has often commented on how bad she felt for leaving me all alone there that day. Later that afternoon Bunny showed up, and from that point we were destined to be friends. I guess, as we mused yesterday, that "opposites do attract," because now after over 50 years, and much distance between us over those 50 years, we are living within fifteen miles of each other. Bunny (or Francis to those who don't know her like I do) and I have always had somewhat opposing interests and personalities. She was always more studious than I, and I managed to nearly fail out of college my freshman year(believe me, it was really BAD, my Dad was ready to make me not return for a second year). Bunny was more serious and goal oriented while I was the party girl (as my grades will validate) - but I did have a great time my freshman year! (Unfortunately it took me the remaining three years to get my GPA to a point that I could later get into graduate school). However, we managed to enjoy rooming together for the first two years we were at FSU. We were forced to part ways when she joined a sorority and moved into the "house," and I went off to Miami to continue my nursing curriculum in the beginning of our junior year. After Joe graduated from FSU in January, 1961, he moved to Miami and lived with Bunny's parents until he began pilot training in April of that year. Bunny was our maid of honor when Joe and I married in 1961. Since that time we have kept in touch. Over the years we have seen each other a few times, but we have always communicated with both Bunny and her parents around Christmas (or after as the case may be). Interestingly enough, several years back, Bunny's daughter, Susan, and her family moved to the area where we now live. When Bunny and her husband, Larry, retired a few years ago, they moved here to be closer to Susan and her family. It has been a while since we've seen each other, but yesterday we met for lunch and had a wonderful time just catching up. We really need to make time to get together more often.