Connecting Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and... South Dakota?

So not sure how long any of you have been following, but if you have been here for a while you will that my sister and I are very close. There have been pictures and posts about visiting Crestview, Florida, where her and her husband live. But something I am not sure I have explained before, but will be explained in one of the last posts I promised I would dedicate this week before taking some time off (from writing -- not posting). In the following story, you will see exactly what we are -- and what the future holds for us.

Laurie and I became friends around 8th grade. One of those situations where we were seated next to each other and one conversation led to another and soon we were becoming good friends. It was phone calls after school and venting when my girlfriend broke up with me then proceeded to mess with other guys in my class. She was my original bff you could say. I remember one time we went to a roller skating rink on a class trip and she didn't want to go because she couldn't skate, but I promised her I would stay with her. Until the girl I was crushing on told me to come skate with her. And I left Laurie to stumble by herself. Yea, I got a lot of flack for that, haha.

In the summer of 2001 (Note: 2001 was a terrible year for me. That year could get it's own blog post) I was facing the tough decision of moving back to California or stay in Alabama for high school, where I had been living since 3rd grade. It was back and forth, with at one point I even went to freshman orientation at a school in Modesto, CA. But two people ultimately had the influence at the time to bring me back. One was Keyo (which is crazy, because we aren't even really friends anymore) and the other was Laurie. So when I came back, I learned that her mom had separated from her boyfriend. At this same time, my dad had just gone through a divorce. So we came up with the idea of setting them on a date. They agreed to it and then the next few months just happened so fast. They moved in together, got engaged and then got married. All the sudden I had a new family. Laurie was now my sister.

We only became closer as it was clear our parents married too fast and maybe weren't exactly right for each other. It made us have to depend on each other more. During our senior year of high school (we are the same age) she was doing cheerleading and JROTC stuff after school and I was working and we would get home at about the same time. We always missed dinner, but she would always take care of it, making us something. The two of us started to feel like a family, even if our parents didn't show it really.

Then, one day it became too much for her. This day started the only downward spiral we had ever had. I can't even remember the exact incident, but I came home one day to find that she had moved out of the house we were staying at and living with her dad, who lived in the same town. I tried to play it off, but I was hurt. Hurt because we had made a pact. We both said that no matter how bad it got with our parents, we would never abandon each other. And I felt like she did. She was still my sister, but at school she was just a classmate. And I HATED it. I remember at one point we even had a fallout because I got caught saying some stuff on my mind to a friend that got back to her. We eventually sat down and talked about it. But by then, senior year was over -- I was getting ready to leave for Auburn and she was getting ready to stay and go to the community college. We tried to keep in touch, but it kind of fell through. To be honest, she was doing things and hanging out with people that we will just say I didn't agree with. My entire freshman year went by and our connection was hanging by a thread, but we still had one.

Then, in August of 2006, at the beginning of my sophomore year of college, I got a phone call. She asked me what I was doing and I told her I was playing video games. She then asked if I could come to Ozark the next day because she was getting married. This totally came out of nowhere because the guy she was marrying was someone she dated for years in high school, but to everyone's knowledge they had not stayed in touch for a while. So, being the brother I am, got out of work early the next day and sped down the road in time to make it for the wedding. Little did I know that that day would be a catalyst for the change in both of our lives.

The guy, Luis, and I had always been friends. I actually knew him before he started dating Laurie. He had been in the Air Force for about a year before they got married. He spent that time doing basic and all that good stuff, but after their marriage, he got stationed in Augusta, Georgia. I visited them once and I really liked the vibe. Then, a few months later they got stationed at Eglin Air Force Base, located in the Crestview/Destin/Ft. Walton area of Florida. This area was only a few hours away from where I lived. All the sudden, without the people she was hanging out with and with her new situation, there were more phone calls. We started inching becoming closer again. In a weird but funny part of the story, a videogame by the name of Halo brought us together to the point where we are now. I don't know if anyone is familiar with that game, but it's basically a shooting game you can play over Xbox Live. One day, Laurie got tired of watching Luis play it all the time so she jumped on and we all became addicted (my roommate jumped on too). It got to the point where we were playing everynight and we noticed was happening was we got used to talking to each other where when the game died down we would still call because we were so used to it.

There house became my spot. Even after our latest ripple in the pond. As I have mentioned earlier, our parents weren't exactly great together. And in January of this year, what we thought came true as they finally filed for divorce. So now, we are not even technically family. However, my feeling is that after 8 years of being family, you don't just stop. In fact, I think it sort of made us stronger because we could vent to each other because the other understood. Our parents understand too. They understand that even though a piece of paper initially told us we were familair, another one just couldn't come and tell us we weren't. So the visits continued without stop. I would start out visiting about once every few months to literally at least once a month, with one month maxing out at three visits. This was also amped up because in the last year I have gone through a pretty horrible break up and they were referred to as "my team." I couldn't have gotten through it without them. But after three years of closeness and constant visiting, it seems I will have to.

About a month or so ago, we got the news. Luis switched jobs, and because he did he lost the privilege to choose to stay at the base where they are at now. So where will be they be living at the end of October? If you saw the title of the blog, you would have guessed it -- South Dakota. At first, I was crushed. We all were. But now, we have kind of accepted it. We will still talk everyday, as we do now, but the visits have been drastically altered. Instead of once or twice a month, it will have to go to once or twice a year (I have already started looking into plane tickets for Christmas/New Year's). The only other thing that has to be changed, is I was looking at living with them for a while after graduation to get off my feet so to speak. Now that they will be in South Dakota, it may not be that easy, but at least it will be possible.

(I just realized how long this is. Kudos again for you if you have read. And I'm sorry if it's not understandable. I am too tired to go back and proofread)

So, in summay, the move sucks. But we are looking forward to it now. We have to. I am sort of an optimist and I feel it has started to rub off on them. And I guess it sucks to trade sunshine for snow, but hey, at least there will be snow :)