For Sheri

 

 

This is a picture of Sheri Ann Messina,

who was my best friend from 1st grade,

when we met in Mrs. Gartiser's class

at Saint Bonaventure's School.

 

We lived down the street from each other,

and we had frequent playdates and sleepovers.

Our sisters were best friends, too.

 

The thing that was different about being best friends with Sheri more than any other friends we both had was that we did the craziest things together and had the most fun together.  We talked about the future and how we would be best friends forever, maybe even raising our families near each other when we grew up and got married.

 

We made hilarious cassette tape recordings of ourselves, such as the one pictured above.  We made an extra copy of this one, and my aunt still has it.  I was surprised to find this one in my box of old cassettes, but I still haven't listened to it.  I don't know why I can't yet.  I am still looking for my favorite pictures of us together.  I know they are in a photo album that is covered with blue flowered fabric, but I don't know where the photo album is.  Please pray that it'll show up soon.  I have been praying about that for a while now, and it still hasn't.

 

But there are many memories of Sheri in different places in the remnants of my childhood, such as the autograph book page shown above where she was the first to write a message.  And in the Flowers for a Friend book I have on my shelf, which I found right around the sixth anniversary of her death, in 1999.  It was the book I'd been searching for since I had gotten her a copy once and I wanted one for myself to remind me.  It seemed to just appear and it reminded me that Sheri was with me, always in my heart.

 

This year I am doing something to honor my best friend.  I am planning to participate next weekend in an Out of the Darkness walk sponsored by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.  My fundraising webpage is here:

Brianne's Fundraising Webpage

I would be oh so grateful if you would donate towards my fundraising goal.  It has been nineteen years since Sheri's death, and I am finally doing something to outwardly to honor her life and her memory.  Our friendship meant the world to me, and Sheri's memory will always live strongly in my heart. 

 

 

Here is a poem I wrote for Sheri in 1997,

when I was seventeen years old.

I had a friend once who was my very best

The times we shared together were better than the rest

When she left I felt that my childhood was over

So many years of growing up and I didn’t even know her

Confusion struck me hard,

Things were no longer what I knew

Everything I once believed was now far from true

These times made me stronger, made me see a different light

I will never forget my best friend,

The one who took her life

Wherever I go she is on my mind

Forever & ever – I leave nothing behind

7/10/1997

 

Thank you for your support.

 

~Brianne