I'm Late, I'm Late For A Very Important Date

So as I said HERE, I suck at this kind of stuff. I used to be so very good at remembering dates and what not but some where along the way, I just lost it. Sometimes I feel like this makes me a bad friend but none of my friends say anything about it, so I guess I'm safe.

Anyway tonight I would like to tell you about Chocolate'. As with Harmonica, I forgot her birthday. There is actually an on going joke between Chocolate' and I about what day is actually her birthday. Several years ago, I got it confused and even after she corrected me, I still get it confused. I can say with much confidence that it is either the 17th or the 18th of February. I'm sure that she will set me straight yet again. Like I have said before, I suck.

Chocolate' and I met in college. It was her freshman year and my sophomore and we were pledging the same social club. We went to an antiquated school that didn't (at the time) have sororities, hence the social clubs. Our pledge class was waiting outside of a meeting when Chocolate' walked directly up to me, invaded my personal space and said "Wow! Your eyes are green!".
My thought - yes, freak, they are.

For the next year, we were forced into each other's company though out pledging. I have to say that she was a force I didn't understand. I wasn't used to someone who was so jolly, loyal, fierce and compassionate. I was and still am very shy around people I don't know but she intrigued me. Throughout my junior year, she was hanging around with a roommate of mine. We socialized as acquaintances do and our friendship began to grow strong. It seemed that every time I came back to school from a weekend at home, she would be there camped out on the couch waiting for me. Now she wasn't waiting just to see how my weekend was or anything like that. She was waiting because my roommate would have had a blow up with her boyfriend and then abandoned Chocolate' to go make up. I was her ride back to the dorm. It got to the point that I would see Chocolate' on the couch and I knew that June and Uncle PJ had fought and were now reconciling. So I guess you could say that it is all June's fault that Chocolate' and I are such good friends. It's a shame really - June has missed out on so much.

Soon, we were going to each other's homes as college roommates do. She would come to my house and we would scheme on how to get out of work/class, so that we could spend another day at the mountain chalet. We even fought a forest fire! Well it was actually a tree, but it was a good excuse so that we could stay home and watch Lois and Clark. I ended up better off out of the two of us. When we would go to Atlanta, I got Andrew. Andrew was the light of anyone's life. He was special and special doesn't quit cover it. I got to play around with Andrew while Chocolate' would admonish us for acting like 5 year olds in Kroger. This was not a stretch for Andrew as he was 5, but I should have known better. At least that is what her tone said. There are no words that can describe what kind of boy Andrew was but I guess you could say he had an old soul. You could look in his eyes and just know that he knew something more that what he was letting on to and that he was smarter than you. Not academically but worldly. He knew more that you did and more than you would ever experience in your lifetime.

Sadly, Andrew is no longer with us. My junior year, Keith called my apartment and told me to put Chocolate' on a plane and not say anything to her. Andrew was dead and I could not let her know in any way. As she knows, this was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Andrew, the light of her life and the light of her family, had been hit by an idiot driving to fast in a neighborhood. I had never experienced anything like this before. I was shocked. I was speechless. I was devastated and yet I knew that my feelings were not even a fraction of what Chocolate' and her family were feeling.

Needless to say, the next year was not nearly as fun at school. Chocolate' has more mood swings than a menopausal woman experiencing PMS. I spent many an evening outside of our dorm room, crying on the phone to my mother because I didn't know how to help my friend. I knew there was nothing I could do but that wasn't good enough. I had to help. In my own way, I guess I did. Chocolate' is the only one who can say if I did or I didn't.

My first visit back to Atlanta after the funeral was strange to say the least. I didn't know how to act. I had never been around death and grief before. Then the strangest thing happened. Andrew came to see me. Now I know many of you out there do not believe that this is possible. I don't give a shit what you think - IT HAPPENED. I slept in Andrew's room that first night and he came to see me. He told me to hang in and keep on doing whatever it was that I was doing. He said that Chocolate' needed me more than she realized. He said that Dianne needed me to be there for Chocolate'. He said that I had to stick around and I wouldn't be sorry for staying. He said that it would be hard but it would be worth it.

He was so right.

So even though another year has come and gone and I have yet again missed your birthday, I love you Chocolate'.

I'm so very glad I listened.