You Find Out Who Your Friends Are

I have to say, loved ones came out of the wood work when I was daignosed with cancer. I always had a lot of friends, from all different walks of life. I was not necessarily popular, but I wasn't unpopular either. I belonged to the Math and Science club, the Industrial Arts club, National Honor Society and student government. I was well-rounded for sure. While I knew most everyone I went to school with, and was friends with most of them. I also only had a few very close friends. I had several different best friends in high school, and then there were the "closest" friends from each of my different categories.

After high school, I lost touch with most of them, for one silly reason or another. I really learned what true friendship was when I joined a sorority as a Freshman at UNLV. Of course, the sorority offered the "fake" and "superficial" friendships as well, but there are a handful of my sisters that, to this day, are my closest friends. I unfortunately do not see or speak with them all that often, but I know they are there. I am here for them when they need me, and they were there for me when I needed them.

I have to say that when I met my best friend, I knew we would be friends forever, but I never could have imagined just how close we would become. Monique is my sorority little sister (or lil sis), but is a few years older. We met when she went through recruitment, when we were both sophomores at UNLV. She is smart, funny, knows how to get me into and out of trouble. I actually followed her to England our Junior year, which (in a story of its own) was one of the best and not necessarily worst, experiences of my life. I learned so much about myself during that six months abroad.

Anyway, I digress. After I was diagnosed Monique, Susan (another sorority sister), and Tony (another study abroad student we met from Idaho) drove to see me in New Mexico. Any true friend would come to see me, you might be saying, but let me tell you about their trip. Vegas is about a nine hour trip from where I was living. Also, like I said, Tony was from Idaho. He drove the (I'm guessing) 15 hour drive from Idaho, to Las Vegas to pick up Monique and Susan, so they could all drive together. Also, Susan doesn't drive. At all. So he picks them up and they had south (to then go west). There is a strip of road from Las Vegas to Kingman, AZ, of about 100 miles or more, nothing once you've crossed the Hoover Dam. Along this stretch, they came across a body in the road. I will have to ask them to remind me if the guy was dead or not. To make a long story short, they stopped and waited for police (and an ambulance?) to come remove the body. This was during the day, in June, in the desert. They really are great people.

Once they made it to Los Lunas, we met at Chili's for dinner, and they regaled me with this story while waiting for Marshall to get in from Atlanta. He finally showed up, I made the introductions, and we had a great time. That night, back at Mom and Dad's we hung out, and I got a very special surprise from my two sorority sisters. I received my Alumnae badge (which I later found out was actually Susan's) and a candle pass for my engagement. Since all sororities have some sort of ceremony for engagements and the such, I think it is okay to mention that I had one, but that is as far as I will go into details. Sorry. :)

Monique, Susan, and Tony met up with Mom, Marshall and I at chemo the next day, and they stopped and bought pizza for lunch! We all hung out in my private room, and then when I started to get sleepy, I suggested that they go check out Old Town. I think they enjoyed themselves. The next morning, we all met up at the Village Inn to have breakfast before they had to be back on the road. I was so sorry to see them go, but very excited that they had come to see me.

A couple weeks later I was blessed with yet a second troupe from Las Vegas. Crystal and Danielle, two of the sorority sisters I mentioned as closest friends, flew in to spend the weekend with me. Unfortunately, this time I was not feeling as good, and we spent most of the weekend at my parents watching movies. One night we did venture out to Blockbluster, to pick up DVDs and something to eat. While Crystal and Danielle's trip was no where near as eventful as Monuique, Susan, and Tony's trip, it meant the world to me that they were willing to just hang out with me.

Two friends from high school, that I was sure I had burned bridges with also came to see me at my parents. Anita and Irene were friends from my "smarty" side. We were in honors classes together, and Anita and I were in student government together as well. We were the type of friends in high school that were always feuding. If one of us did something, they other two wouldn't speak to them. Typical high school girl drama. Unfortunately, up to that point, had never made it past the drama. It also meant the world to me that they came to see me. While we just hung out and talked, I knew that we had put the past behind us. I would also like to add these two amazing women to the list of people I still call friends. We were able to keep in touch through Facebook and Myspace, and even reconnected back in New Mexico while I was home.

I do have to say that MANY more people were in and out of my hospital rooms, and came to my parents house, but it really was these people that I mentioned, that reminded me what I was fighting for. Thank you all so much!