Can I see?

Forever Friends?

Had some interesting news about my friend Becks last night. She has given birth to her fourth daughter. Time to stop hoping for a boy now??

I’ve known Becks since I was around 6 or 7 and she was 8 our parents had been friends through an auto club - my dad had an Escort RS and Beck’s dad had a VW Scirroco! After then our families went on holidays together and me and Becks grew up together, we kept ponies, we played out, we had sleepovers and started our underage drinking together. Becks always looked older than her age, she grew taller than me with a Marilyn Monroe curvaceous figure, whereas I was always short and very skinny. I used to be envious of her hips and ample bust and she used to wish for my skinny legs and flat stomach. She had thick dark brown curly hair whereas I was blonde with long straight hair and looked about 12 years old. So we were the complete opposites but it suited our personalities. We used to hang out in a bar called Sams where girls got free entry before 10pm and we would sip our vodka and oranges whilst watching all the boys that passed on the regular sweep round the bar.

Becks was always wilder than me, and was attracted to the “bad boys” she didn’t fall for anyone and was in the school of treat them mean keep them keen. Whereas I always let my heart rule my head and ended up broken-hearted time after time. We were fairly inseparable for most of our teens, we had similar part-time jobs and I went to the same sixth form college, only after Becks had left, I quite often followed in her footsteps. At 18 I left home and moved away for university and Becks stayed at home and got a full time job, we always stayed in contact with letters and phone calls. I was amazed then when I got the message that Becks had got engaged to her new boyfriend Simon, and was getting married. She was 21 and he was 19. He’d dropped out of sixth form and got a full-time and job and they were putting a deposit down on a house.

So Becks and Simon got married on a freezing day in March, I was bridesmaid shivering in my red dress, my skin going bluer by the second, whilst Becks was beautiful in a gorgeous white gown and veil and didn’t even feel the cold. They’d bought a falling down 2-bedroom cottage with a view of renovating it into a dream home. The place was old decrepit, riddled with damp and even Beck’s dad told her to steer clear. The day they came back from honeymoon in Malta they had to sleep at Simon’s parents house, as they couldn’t move in until structural work was completed.

Unexpectedly, 3 months later Becks found out she was pregnant!!! Jessica was born in June the following year and by this time they had got one room in a habitable state. After this time Becks and I drifted, I was going through university and Becks was living the life of a full-time wife and mother, and we no longer had the same things in common. I moved back to Bolton 4 years later and met up with them Jessica had grown into a lovely little girl and they were moving to a big family 4 bedroomed house on a modern housing estate in Accrington. Becks was working for a financial adviser and Simon was an estate agent. Becks helped me sort out my mortgage on my first home a 2-bed new house in Bolton. Unfortunately the company gave me bad advice and I ended up taking them to the Financial Ombudsman, I got my money back but I thought that his would seriously damage our friendship. We drifted out of touch, Becks always sent me cards and then I heard she’d had a second daughter, Melissa so I drove out to see them. Melissa was gorgeous and Becks had given up work and Simon was doing brilliantly in his job and they had 2 flash cars on the drive and a pony for Jessica in the field behind their house.

Shortly after Melissa came another baby girl Madelyn, and I haven’t seen her. I tried to call Becks on her birthday in July, a little girl answered – who could have been Jessica or Melissa, and told me that Mummy was out. I was really drunk, as England had just lost to Portugal in the World Cup so I didn’t leave a message.

So I was really shocked to hear yesterday from my dad that Becks has now had her fourth daughter! My dad had spoken to her dad, and of course hadn’t got any of the vital information such as name, weight, date of birth, wellbeing report, dad’s are rubbish like that.

It’s weird to think how different we’ve become over the years, and quite strange to think that we have spoken since Melissa was born. I wouldn’t have put Becks as a full-time wife and mother and yet she revels in the role, whereas I’m the one with the fancy-free lifestyle – skiing holidays, football season ticket, shoe habit and impractical showy car. If you had asked me 20 years ago I would have said we would have been the other way round. I’d like to pick up the phone, but I’ve no idea how to go about picking up on the years between us, and the big gulf in our lifestyles. Can our old friendship be resurrected? Am I still jealous after all these years??

posted by Pixie @ 11:55 AM