They became best friends because we were. They got into trouble the same way we did. That's what friends always do. Danny and I met in 7th grade when I moved into the community. We played soccer. We double dated at homecoming as freshman ( he is still married to his date). We were business partners by 11th grade. We were co-captains senior year. When my mom fired me from my first job at her store, she hired Danny. We were always together. By the end of high school Danny's father had died and mine was in a coma. So our mothers decided that they should be friends and almost instantly they became great friends. They shared a common history. By loving each others children, it was easy for them to love each other. They went out together. They enjoyed each others company. And like their sons, they loved being together.
For me, the high point of their friendship was when they travelled to Israel to visit me during my junior year abroad.
For those 10 days in the spring of 1985 my mom and Gail travelled with me and my friends to see the israel that I fell in love with. They were the first visitors that I could share my Israel with. They hired me as their tour guide. We rented a car and drove from the border with Lebanon to the Negev. We stayed with friends in Jerusalem and on the last night they even crashed in our dorm room in tel aviv. We ate, we laughed, we explored together. They were great sports and wonderful travel partners. It was a trip that always makes me smile. I never again had the opportunity to travel like that with my mom.
On Friday before Mother's Day I received an envelope of pictures that Gail's children found in some boxes they took from Gail's home after she died in 1989. Gail died far too young. My mom a decade or so later. Their friendship lacked quantity but overflowed with quality. When they were together they always laughed. They just knew how to have a good time. I forgot that these pictures existed but they reminded me of a moment in time when friendship was all that mattered. The trip was far from fancy. The two moms acted like they were the ones who were 21. As I look at those pictures today and find myself the same age that my mom was, I only wish we could all have friends like that who would jump at the adventure to just be together. They say that "Most people walk in and out of our lives, but only true friends leave footprints in our hearts." Marcia and Gail left lots of footprints in Israel and continue to do so long long after they stopped walking this earth. And I know that their journey continues.....
