Friends part 5 of 7

The tears streamed down my face, I had seen this movie before but this time it had a meaning just for me.

With my face still wet I pressed the teletext button and looked up the flights to California again.  I called the number there and then and went ahead and booked my flight.

How could I not go to my best friends wedding?

I'm not sure which characters each of us were.  Beth had such beautiful dark hair that made her look more like Hillary Whitney, but she was also more adventurous than Hillary and I, making her more like CC Bloom.

So I am not sure who was who but the fact was we were them and they were us in my mind.  And if my friend was going to die in a beach house by golly I would be there in my bridesmaid dress to be with her!   Oops mixing film with reality a bit there.

So that is the story of how I watched beaches and accepted the invitation to be a bridesmaid in California.

I had actually prayed for a friend like Beth, that is not just a turn of phrase, I mean like an actual prayer.  I had long since given up on the girls at church.  It had gotten a lot better but I never felt I had a kindred spirit amongst them.  They felt it too, I'm sure.

Then one after the other I found my tribe.

Laura had made her way back to church too, prodical style.  Which gave us lots to talk about and much common ground.

Gillian was older, wiser, smarter and made she helped me realise I had a good sense of humour (a thing until then I thought I'd swapped for morminism).

And Beth the girl from Kelty, who was in the world but not off it and showed me how it was done.  We'd dance all night at Century 2000 or the Liquid Rooms, modestly clad and stone cold sober.  We back packed around Europe and planned our futures as we took in the sights.  Futures that pretty much came to pass just as we'd envisioned.

So it was a blow when she said she was leaving Scotland to marry an American.  Of course I was happy for her and hoped that we could stay close, despite my intentions our lives have sadly drifted apart.  I should do something about that.

This was the first of two Beth's whose friendship would have a lasting impact on me.....but none more than my very best friend........