My son is graduating from grade eight this year. Seems like only yesterday I was following in my car behind his big yellow bus the entire route on his first day of kindergarten. (Note: overprotective Mum/only child).

With the end of grade eight comes much closure; yearbook signing, class trip, parties, awards and a few tears. Saying good-bye to old friends is never easy, especially in those transition years.  The jump from grade to high school is a rough one.

The summer before my own ninth grade year my parents sold our old house. So those particular summer months brought a lot of hard life lessons, a little growing up and thankfully still some time to hang out in the sun with my best friend Jackie.

We did everything together including traveling with her family to “Turkey Point,” Ontario for some fun by the lake. We were in that awkward stage; too cool to hang out with her parents but too young to wander far from the cottage and get into any real trouble. I remember we ate outdoors the entire week, picnics, BBQ’s , hot dogs on the run! We swam till our fingers were prunes and giggled about the cute boys staying in the neighbouring cottages.  Looking back on that summer I realize how innocent we were and how so many changes lay ahead.

A few months into grade nine, Jackie and I drifted apart in the vast seas of people and new interests in High school.  My best friend , whom I  had shared all my secrets with and spent every waking moment with became a distant acquaintance  I’d come to pass in the hallway on my way to my locker. High school is funny that way.

I can only hope that doesn’t happen to my own son and his best buddy too, but if it does I know now there is always a reason why someone fades out of our life at a particular time. And I guess we just have to be thankful for the memories we shared. Like Jackie and I at “Turkey Point” all those years ago.

There is a little addendum to this story. When I moved back home with my son a few years ago, Jackie and I reconnected after twenty-some odd years of being apart. Our lives both took major twists and turns since that summer before grade nine yet somehow our foundation remained, and we were both back in the same place at the same time once more. We became best friends again.

You never can tell who will walk back into your life; right in the moment you least expect it! So for all you Facebook fans, I dare you to poke your old best friend from Grade eight and see where they are now. Come on, school is out for the summer, time to have a little fun, throw a BBQ or a picnic for your old pals so you can giggle about those cute boys at the cottage across the lake!

Be well

Jack

Keywords : best friends, end of the school year, Jackie, Turkey Point

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