“Frodo: I can't do this, Sam.
Sam: I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.
Frodo: What are we holding onto, Sam?
Sam: That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
When I was 12 years old, I met one of my longest standing friends. Jadie was a year older than me and the oldest of six children. We both had a passion for poetry and fantasy books and movies. The Dragonlance books really drew us in, both of us reading them then swapping out until we'd read nearly every one. We started calling one another "Raist" and "Tas", our favorite characters respectively.
We were the best of friends but we were complete opposites. As I'm sure you'll see in the pictures, Jadie is a bit more gothic and outgoing where I'm more... reserved. Did this stop us? Never. Our friendship transferred into one we began to compare to Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee. My nickname changed from Raist to Mr. Frodo and her's went from Tas to Sam. Even as the years went by and we didn't see each other hardly at all, we knew we'd be there for each other at the drop of a hat.
Now, Jadie and I are 24 and 23. She has two babies, Rain is 3 and Luna will be 1 next wednesday. I have my 2.5 year old monkey child. We've both been married and divorced/are divorcing. She rubbed my aching feet at my baby shower and I've nursed her daughter for her when she just needed a break. I'd walk through fire for that girl and I know she would do the same for me.
Today we visited them so that I could measure Luna for her "Alice in Winterland" birthday dress. The oldest two ran around and played with a football in a basketball goal while we adults chatted and Luna refused to leave my lap. Watching Rain and Emmy really made me realize we'd come a long way from tales of Huma and Kaz, Aragorn and Arwen, Raist and Tas, Frodo and Sam.
Today, our favorite name to be called is "Mama", we're walking milk cows, and watching Dora and Deigo is a way of life. Keeping our children fed and clean and teaching them to count, say their ABCs, and who the Doctor is (or will be, or has been... wibbly wobbly stuff, ya know) are some of the most important things we can accomplish now... But we'll never forget the girl who we sat back to back with reading, imagined we were elves with while balancing on top of WAY too high things, or giggled with under the covers while dreaming of Middle Earth.
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