My New And Old Friend Janice

I recently reconnected with my best friend from the 7th grade... It was rather funny the way it happen.. I have a FaceBook account and have been reconnecting with a bunch of old high school friends and one day I get this message and it says are you Kelly Milne from Hill? If you are.. I am Janice G.. Wow talk about a blast from the past.. I loved hanging out with Janice... we met in the 6th grade and in 7th grade we were best buds.. There were many a day when I would go to her home after school to do homework or just hangout. Her mom would always make sure we had a healthy snack to give us energy to do our activities...
Later into our 7th grade year another girl entered our twosome.. She was a sweet girl named Karen...We all played together and most of the time got a long just fine.. But when you get a ring of three girlfriends..one will always be left out.... I think we each took turns being the one left out... But we were friends... We were there for each other when Karen's pet rat Ben died and we held her hand when she cried... We were there when we each "officially" became women... I remember Karen calling me up and saying, "I became a woman, today.." funny I "became a woman" a couple of weeks later...I don't know if Janice became a woman or not... she didn't share but I'm thinking since she is in her 40's and has two kids...I'm thinking it did happen at some point....
Towards the end of the school year I made a comment to each of the girls at different times... One day I told Karen, "I liked being with her the most" and a couple of days later I told Janice, "I liked being with her the most"... I honestly felt that emotion at the time...So one day Janice and Karen got together and shared what I had said as girls often do....then I got the phone call....It's Karen and she wants me to tell her which friend I like being with the most....since I told both of them the same thing... Well...I couldn't answer...I said both of you...as 7th grade girls do...that answer was not acceptable.. so the next day..Karen and I were not friends.. It's funny how I see the same emotions and feuds happening with my own daughter..
So...the last week of school happens... I am eating my lunch with some new friends I had made and Karen and Janice are eating their lunches a little ways away from me... All of a sudden something hits me on the back really hard... I can feel my eyes start to water..boy it hurt.. I turn around and I see Karen pointing her finger at me and laughing... I see poor Janice with a look of complete horror on her face...so I assume it's Karen that threw something at me...so I walked up to Karen and I punched her in the nose! Mind you this is the first and only time I had ever laid a hand on anyone...and what's more I broke her nose....talk about an unlucky punch! I was suspended from school for a few days...and Karen's family moved away...and Janice was no longer allowed to play with me...
It's sad and funny how one action can have such a huge impact on people's lives - this is something that I want my children to learn... that every action has a reaction and we just need to do the right thing... My mom used to say that I am going to learn from her mistakes... I find that is true with my own girls.. What is truly a blessing that after all these years...Janice found me.. and we just might become friends again..and I promise not to break any more noses...