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Haskell woman finds old friend after 28 years |
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Friday, 27 November 2009 |
Deanna Welch of Haskell peers over the rail at Shorty Small’s in Little Rock. She’s expecting someone to arrive at anytime. She waits a few minutes and then looks again. She’s antsy.
“I’m nervous,” she said. “Every time someone’s legs go across that window, I get excited,” she added. Her son, Josh, tells his mother that maybe they should meet her friend on another day.
“Josh, it’s been 28 years, I don’t want to wait anymore,” she replies.
Welch is waiting the arrival of her best childhood friend, Mary Rose. The women have not seen each other since 1981. As children, the two were inseparable, growing up in North Carolina. Welch befriended Rose after realizing that Rose didn’t have many friends. Rose became legally blind after a reaction to prescription medication. The children were told by their parents that the blindness was contagious and they should not make friends with Rose. But, Welch knew that wasn’t true and quickly befriended her.
Welch and Rose often spent time together at the beach, at school and at each other’s houses. The girls’ parents were close as well.
But after only a year of becoming like sisters, the unthinkable happened. Welch’s mother decided it was time to move her family back to Oklahoma, where they originally called home. Welch recalls standing by her father’s car as her family packed to leave, crying with her friend, though they promised to keep in touch.
They kept that promise for four years, mailing audio cassette tapes back and forth. The families never wrote to each other, only exchanged audio tapes.
“It was so much more like we were right there than regular letters were,” Welch said.
The families lost touch though, and Welch received her last letter from Rose’s family in 1985. Rose wrote the letter and gave it to her family to deliver on their visit to Welch’s family. Rose was attending the Arkansas School for the Blind and had to miss the trip.
Desperate to not lose touch with such a close friend, Welch began to look for Rose. In 1986, Welch’s search began. Her efforts were unsuccessful for numerous years. She even tried a national search hotline and nothing helped. In 2003, she wrote a letter to talk show host Montel Williams to help her find her friend but didn’t hear a response.
Finally, Welch decided to catch the social networking trend, and her search for Rose finally started to return positive results. In October Welch was urged by a friend from Oklahoma to set up a Facebook account. The friend told Welch that the site would allow her and Welch to keep in better touch.
As Welch was setting up her account, she noticed a face on the side of her home page as a person that the site recommended her to connect with. The face looked familiar so she clicked on the name of the person in the picture. Under the person’s profile, she noticed a picture of someone who looked even more familiar with the name Mary Rose. With much excitement, Welch clicked on the picture and saw an even more familiar face. A few clicks later, Welch was messaging a friend of her daughter’s, exchanging questions about who she was and how she knew Mary.
“I had to convince them that I wasn’t some psycho trying to find her,” Welch said.
Finally, after numerous questions and answers, Welch had confirmed that she had found her lost friend. Rose’s daughter gave Welch her mother’s number. Welch said she called Rose immediately.
“It was almost as if we hadn’t missed a day spent apart in 28 years,” she said.
The women didn’t want to spend another day without seeing each other. They planned to meet at Shorty Small’s on Nov. 14.
At the restaurant, time ticks slowly for Welch as she waits for her friend to arrive.
Then, two people start to walk up the stairs. A man escorts a woman up the stairs, because the woman is legally blind. The man describes the surroundings to the woman and Welch greets her.
The women embrace. They share a hug that has been delayed by nearly 30 years. They parted, laughed and hugged again. This time, they didn’t let go for awhile. It was almost as if the women were afraid of losing each other once more.
The women take a seat at their table and for a moment, few words are said as they start to embrace the reality of the situation.
“Man, that’s incredible,” Welch said, looking at her friend.
“You were the only one I wanted to keep up with,” Welch said to Rose. Suddenly, Welch’s cell phone rings. It’s her father. She answers the phone and quickly hands it to Rose. Welch said her dad was disappointed he couldn’t make it to the reunion.
“Hey dad!” Rose said on the phone, as tears begin to form in her eyes. Rose knows she has not only found her lost friend, but a lost part of her family.
“She hasn’t changed,” Welch said while Rose was on the phone.
After the phone call, stories are flying between the women as they start to reminisce about their days together as children. They talk of Christmas nights, crab hunting with chicken necks and burying jellyfish in the sand.
“She’s still the same. We’ve just both gotten older,” Rose said with a laugh. “She was my friend,” she added.
“Best friends,” Welch said quickly.
The women continue to chat as food is ordered and Rose’s daughter, grandson and her daughter’s boyfriend arrive. Time has separated these women long enough. They are thankful to be together at last.
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