I'll never forget that day. June 12th, 2010. It was 12:30 pm when I got the call from Jamaica:
Me: Hi Fiona
Fiona (cousin): Tasha I have some bad news to tell you. You’re going to want to sit down for this
Me: I’m in the middle of shopping right now, I can’t actually sit
Fiona: Your friends got into a car accident
Me: Who?
Fiona: Simone, Roberta and Rushay
Me: Simone who? (Now we both knew that I only knew one Simone, but I didn’t want it to be her)
Fiona: Simone Ford. Your Simone. They were in the car with another guy
Me: But they’re ok….right?
Fiona: None of them made it. I’m so sorry.
*I froze*I was in 1st grade when I first met Simone. Mount Saint Joseph Preparatory School, Jamaica West Indies. She was new to the school. She stole my eraser and she wouldn’t give it back. My brand new eraser. When I told the teacher, she wouldn’t help me get it back so I cried…the entire day. You would have thought by this initial encounter that we’d become sworn enemies but someway somehow we became friends…best friends. The closeness of our relationship kind of pushed our parents to be close too, they even went into business together. We did EVERYTHING together. Countless sleepovers at each others houses, family events and even got our first perms at the same time. I was 12 when I moved to the U.S. unexpectedly and all I can remember was being mostly torn up because Simone and I were no longer together. We kept in touch everyday for some time but international phone charges and life happened. We didn’t talk as often but every once in while we still checked in on each other. 9 years passed by and I went to Jamaica in 2009 to bury my uncle who was murdered. So many things were happening with the family and the funeral but there was a determination in me to see her no matter what. I remember being at home trying to give her directions to my house. She gave me the silliest laugh and said to me “do you think I would ever forget where your house is? I spent half my life there with you”. As I waited for her to come I wondered what it would be like. It had been 9 years and we’d both grown up into women. Would it be awkward? Would we have anything to say? Do we even have anything in common anymore? But there…walking towards me, was my best friend calling out to me “Natty dred” (insider). This gorgeous beautiful woman who now had boobs! LOL. From the way that we interacted you would have never believed that we were ever separated, just picked up right where we left off. It was so awesome.
How can she not be here anymore? For a while I didn’t understand this. She was 22 and full of life. I never knew the last time I hugged her was really a goodbye forever, the last time I would ever see her. The pictures from the scene of the accident haunt me every single day. A full size car crumbled like a tin foil, bursting into flames. My prayer everyday is that they all died on impact and no one felt the fire. My heart breaks everyday because they are not here. SHE is not here.
Life is not promised to any of us. Each day we wake up is a blessing. Live your life like it’s the last day. Apologize to those you have hurt. Reconcile with those that have hurt you. At the end of the day, it’s not worth it to leave things unfinished or unresolved. Make sure that if anyone you love doesn’t make it to tomorrow, you can rest assured that they knew you loved them. I smile only because she knew my love for her and she’s in a much better place now.
So today on the 2nd anniversary of her death I would like to dedicate this blog to my best friend and sister Simone aka “Simon” (insider). Rest in perfect peace and I’ll see you again one day *4.20.1988-6/12/2010*
#friendship #reconciliation
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