Wild we were.
Dim looked like Roger Daltry, long curly blonde hair
and he had a girlfriend in Columbus GA he called his
'chick' [he will deny this if you ask him but it is the
truth]. He was the first real southern boy I ever met -
he was bonafide. At one point we considered dating
but decided against it.
Over time jobs and moves and loves split most of us
up. Ironically the midwestern girl stayed [that would
be me].
In 1996 I was working at the Olympics when I heard a
familiar male voice call my name. It was Dim with a
date. He kept saying ‘you look exactly how I thought
you would.’ He introduced me to MK, an Irish-Catholic
girl from a big family up north. She had dark hair and
impossibly merry blue eyes – black Irish as my mother
would say. We chatted for awhile and exchanged
numbers promising to get together.
MK told me later that she asked Dim if she was some
weird sort of replacement for me.
I was dating Gapetto and we planned an evening out
with them. We enjoyed ourselves and promised to do
more together.
They got married in Rochester and a year or two later
we were married here and moved into our house.
We began hanging out in earnest. MK and I decided we
were Evil Party Twins [or EPTs] - we seemed to just
have way to much fun together and would generally
pay for it the next morning. They took to packing
overnight bags when they came over sometimes not
leaving for three days.
And then.
MK’s job took them to Jacksonville. We had tickets to
visit them before they even moved. We cried...
‘I thought we would raise our children together.’
I was going for the jugular.
They were just gone a year or two before they moved
back. I helped Dim find their house before MK even
moved back here – it is about 4 miles from ours.
I finally became pregnant and had the twins. Dim and
MK were first on the call list. MK came on her lunch
hour and was the very first to see them and hold them.
We discovered later that she more than likely conceived
that week as she had a little girl 9 months later. Life
was changing like crazy but we were on parallel tracks.
And then.
Our husbands both seemed to go through some mid-life
type thing and were getting rather argumentative
with each other. Dim and MK were making lots of new
friends in their new neighborhood. MK and I vowed
that our husbands’ spats would not interfere with our
friendship but of course we didn’t spend as much
time together.
I missed her.
Just lately we had started to do things again. She was
going in for the biopsies and the doctors were sure
they would rule out cancer. They are very surprised
with the results - as we all are.
MK is 41 years old.
She is a fighter.
She will have a PET scan soon and then will begin
very aggressive chemo treatments.
The cancer is inoperable.
It has not been staged yet.
She is a fighter.
Her daughter is six years old. Her whole life is ahead
of her and MK will want to be there.
She is a fighter.
I will be there to help – however I can – with her
innumerable other friends.
She is a fighter.
And I am flummoxed...
