A Story from Rachel

There was a cluster of Askew offspring all born relatively within the same time frame. Family picnics were full of screaming, laughing, happy children. But soon it became apparent that my relationship with her was different. She was gone for 4 years and then home for one. So, I would spend four years attempting to be her pen pal and then 1 year enjoying the time together, not realizing how quickly a year would go by.

The first vivid memory of the Feistel’s furlough was when Susie and I were in fourth grade. I remember going to the Lyon St. house to get it prepared with curtains and sheets for their arrival. I remember shopping with our mom’s at Wal-mart dressed in matching clothes, down to the shoes and walking around ‘pretending’ we were twins. I remember giggling at sleepovers—staying up until threats of punishment forced us to finally give in and go to sleep. I remember the excitement of another cousin being born. Running in to our 4^th Grade class to our teacher and writing “Welcome to the world—Susan Rachelle” all over the chalkboard. You see, she was OUR cousin… she shared our name… Susan, after Susie and Rachelle, after Rachel. And then I remember the countdown to her leaving to return to Taiwan. That was always the hardest part—the goodbye.

Years passed and we had other furloughs to share…swimming at grandma and grandpa’s house, more family get togethers, and holidays with lots of food.

Then the sleepovers were permanent. Sue stayed with my family for some time while in school. I loved it. To me, it was like having another sister, except she was my age. We shared clothes, late night stories, cried with each other’s heartbreaks and cheered with each other’s victories. We truly became wonderful friends. At that time, one of the most special things that we did together was go to Grandma’s house and hang out. We would work on whatever project we could… we’d go to lunch with G and listen to stories about our history—our grandparent’s love for each other. We’d dig through Grandma’s closets to see what ‘treasures’ we could find. We were all ‘buddies.’

Then life, as it goes, took us down separate paths. I got married and moved away. And I watched her from a distance go through college and live her life. She always amazed me at how giving she was. She was truly a beautiful person both inside and out. She was just genuinely good in all ways. And then I watched her truly blossom as she fell in love and married the True Love of her life… and then she moved away.

The most wonderful thing about our relationship is that no matter how much time or space went in between our visits, we could always pick right up where we left off. It didn’t matter where we were in our lives, we would always be friends.

So now, with this goodbye, all I can do is be assured, like I always have been—I will see her again, and it will be as if no time has passed.