As we walked down the hallway tonight, Jill, Paula, Julie and myself, I knew that things would never change between us. The ties that hold us together are too tight for the strongest forces in heaven or earth to sever.
I began walking with Alston, after the graduation service was over, down towards my car, wanting to escape everything I was thinking about. For some reason though I turned around and saw the my three girls standing in the opposite hallway of the gym. I told Alston I needed to be with them and half walked, half ran, to meet them. All of us were crying. I hugged Julie and we all turned to walk through the door and down the hallway in silence.
We've never been silent before. Never.
We headed for the bathroom to dry our eyes. It's been our place of refuge for the past six years when we were upset, today was no exception. Paula leaned up against the marble stall, Julie sat on the counter, Jill hid her face in her ball cap on the floor, and I braced myself on the cool wall. And we sat. We sat for forever it seems like without talking, but we all knew what the others were thinking.
Our minds scrolled back to the days with Molly. We thought about the first time we met her and the last time we ever saw her. We thought about how she stood about above the rest.
Then we began to talk. I knew, sitting there, that this was the meaning of true friendship. I knew, that no one else could ever take their places. Molly died, but her legacy lived on, and was still affecting us five years later and would for the years to come.
The graduates of the youth group leave their physical mark behind by putting their hand prints on the wall. Molly's hand should have been up there with the rest of them this year. When we remembered that it wouldn't be there we got mad, thinking that she would not be remembered. The four of us were going to paint a gold cross next to the hand-prints of 2007 and write her name on it once everyone left. But as we watched, we saw that the hand-prints took on a funny shape. All close and jumbled together, they began to form an M for Molly and we realized that she would never, ever, be forgotten.
As we hugged each other tonight, I prayed for each of them, that God would watch over their lives, keep them safe, and keep them happy. Then I prayed a selfish prayer, but it was one that I will never take back. I prayed,
"God please don't ever take these girls from me."
But when we left tonight, I knew that even if we are separated by life, school, work, marriage, or God forbid, death, we will never forget each other, and most of all, we will always be loved.
"Friends always show their love. What are sisters for if not to share troubles?"- Proverbs 17:17
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