Thursday, December 4, 2008

Jessica Brower McGonigal

Fall of 1990 was the year I became friends with my BFF Jessi. It wasn't the first time that we met because we had attended the same elementary school and even road the same school bus but there was something about our 6th grade year where we just clicked. Which is quite funny since we started out pretty different. Jessi; super cute, little princess, outgoing, instantly popular. Myself; awkwardly cute, princess of mud, tomboy, not so popular. None of those things made us have one bit less fun with each other.

Once we became friends there was rarely a weekend that we weren't together. We would go rollerskating, go to the the movies, the mall, pretty much everywhere. Sometimes we would be out and about and we would act like we spoke another language around strangers. We would just laugh about it all the way home. I spent so many night at Jessi's house and we would make up songs, dances, and play play play. When morning came I always would wake up like an hour before she did. Not knowing what to do with myself I would just sit there. She wasn't a morning person and I was okay with that!

Summers would come and there was no separating us. The summer of 1992 was one of my favorites. That was the summer that Jessi invited me to go to her grandparents vacation home at Lake Anna in Virginia for 4 days. We had a blast! We went water skiing, tubing, and just lounged around. I felt so apart of her family.

There is so many more memories I want to mention like the time when Jessi and I made our time capsule in 7th grade. We worked so hard digging the hole and collecting our items to put in it. Our big mistake was, we didn't mark were we put it in her woods. One day I will find it! Another small event that made a big impact was one day Jessi and I were hiking in the woods and she slipped and almost feel into a shallow river bed, I ran and pulled her up. The next day she had made me a metal and said I saved her life :). A few things Jessi and I loved was music, roller skating, and making up dance routines. So naturally we have a video of us doing a roller skating routine to Mariah Carey's song "Some Day" Jessi and I even tried out for the talent show singing "Save The Best For Last - Vanessa Williams" but thankfully we didn't make it. We couldn't sing!

I moved to Arkansas the middle of my 9th grade year. Before I left she gave me a poem called " My Bestest Friend" that is hanging on one of my walls today. We had a lot of distance between us in high school and college but always would get each other caught up with phone calls or visits every year or two.

She was one that I shared many first's with and she was the one that stood by me as I married my husband. She taught me a lot and I think I taught her a thing or two also. She really was my BFF.

May 20th 1979-December 17th 2007 I love you Jessi!

6 comments:

Shan said...

You did a nice job on this tribute J girl. I know that was a painful thing to write. xoxoxox

Terina Dee said...

I was there, living it with you. Great thoughts. Thanks for reminding me of memories of my bestest friend. We even named our family cats after each other. Colon cancer 2006. Our hearts will always have a hole. I guess that explains the ache.

Aaron and Sara said...

Pretty sweet, Jenna. I'm sorry for the pain, but so happy to see you healthy enough to write such a tribute. Precious.

AfricaBleu said...

Very sweet tribute, Jenna-girl. She was lucky to have you as a friend, and it seems you were lucky to have her, too.

I was glad to spend today with you.

Anonymous said...

I just googled the last golf tournament to see the photos from last year and came across this beautiful tribute to Jessie. It has been a rough month for everyone who loved Jessie. Thank you for sharing your stories...She was a special friend to us all!

Terri Scull said...

Love this Jenna! :) SO Sweet! She is proud of this! - Terri (Jessie's girl)