Surprise From A Long Lost Friend

Theresa and I met the first day of college - we were assigned as roommates in an all freshman women's dorm. She was from the Bronx in New York City and I was from the suburbs of Buffalo.

We stayed in touch through the course of the first decade after we graduated. I visited her in the city. She took me to the Bronx Zoo several times (it was my favorite place on earth) and Yankee Stadium to see my beloved NY Yankees. We went to Shea Stadium to see the NY Mets play and stood in line for "two fers" to get half price tickets for Broadway plays.

We went to the Statue of Liberty, ate hot pretzels with mustard from a street vendor's cart, climbed the steps of the Empire State Building and viewed "Miss Liberty" and the harbor from the top of the World Trade Center at dusk.

She was my best friend and showed me a world I had never experienced before nor since.

She then fell off the face of the earth. I searched for her for years. For all intents and purposes I didn't really hear from her until I received a Christmas card from her last year with a return address of a post office box in New Jersey.

Earlier this month I sent her a birthday card. A few days ago, I received a small box in the mail with this note and a cute little cow key chain.

When you press the cow's tummy, it moos and laughs and makes goofy sounds. That's the Theresa I remember. Goofy. Fun. Full of life.

I hope to keep in touch with her now. I will try to get a phone number from her so we can talk. I suspect she's been through some tough times but I'm thrilled she has reached out to me.

I missed her.


PS For the curious, the hidden word is "endowment" and the location on the map is that of our college (and dorm room freshman year).