She called my house in the middle of the night – and kept calling until someone listened. 

She knew I’d want to know, and she was spot-on about that.

I was in 10th grade, and earlier that night, I’d gone out with friends. After they dropped me off, there was tragic car accident. One of my best friends, Rod, did not survive, yet I had no idea.

The girl calling was once my best friend. In 8th grade, when I started a new school, she was the first friend I made. For months we spent every weekend together, but things changed that spring when she dated a guy in a different group. We slowly parted ways.

There were no hard feelings, just an unspoken agreement to do our own thing.

We never spoke after that, and that’s why her call surprised me. She tried several times because a relative staying with us kept hanging up, and she persisted until my sister answered. My sister took the message, then woke me up with the devastating news.

I was shocked and confused, and when I learned that the accident happened hours earlier, I felt hurt that my closest friends hadn’t told me.

To this day, that phone call is my #1 memory of my 8^th grade best friend. I don’t dwell on how we drifted or barely spoke in high school, because that call trumped everything.

Read More