Best Friend and Sister

Riding bicycles around the 2.5 miles of dirt road at Camp Bethel was one of our favorite activities as kids. We probably put about a million miles on those bikes until we grew out of them and got larger ones again and again. The roads at camp are actually just one large loop road from the main entrance with two dead end side roads.

I think there were usually about six of us at the time who were old enough to ride our bikes around and play "bike tag" or to just race. Hannah Watkins and I were riding out bikes with the three boys when Jenny came out to join us. We must have been trying to out ride Jenny because at that time we never played with her. At one point when we thought we had lost her we found Jenny sitting on an old log near the swing set in tears.
Hannah and I stopped in front of her and asked her what was wrong.
"You guys NEVER play with me! And I have no friends." She sobbed.
Hannah and I looked at each other and back at Jenny. I don't remember who spoke up first, but either Hannah or I said that we promised to play with Jenny and to be her friend from then on.

Its been about eleven years since that day and we are still friends with Jenny. For the five years I lived at camp, every summer when the Marches moved in, I never left Jenny's side. We swam together, played cards and with our beanie babies, rode bikes together, walked together, ate together (she makes the BEST grilled cheese sandwich ever!), painted our nails together, read together, dance and sang together, and so much more. We wrote letters to each other during the winter months and convinced her mom to bring her and her brothers to camp to go sledding.

We still keep in touch and soon she is coming to Maine to visit friends and I plan on seeing her ASAP when she gets here. I have always considered her my sister and always will, no matter how far apart we will geographically be (even if one of us ends up in Greece and writes to the other in Greek!)

I Love you Jenny