A long time ago in a neighborhood far, far away, I was a little girl who was lonely a lot of the time. It was a time when my friends were more acquaintances, and I spent a lot of time alone. It was also the summer after the fire happened.
The fire still gave me nightmares, even though nobody was hurt, and the damage was not so bad.
I traveled to Ohio that summer and found the girl who befriended me now lived farther away from my aunt. And I travelled to see her and those four days changed my life and gave me a friend I loved until the day he died.
As I listen to Davis Gates sing Goodbye Girl on this, the day of his birthday, in the year he would be 63, I smile again for the boy who encouraged me to write down my stories. I will always love you. I will always miss you. And I will always write down my stories.
