Bittersweet Memories - In memory of Patricia Miller Bigger

Let me first say in regards to this post that it is mostly for my own sake. There will probably only be 2 or 3 others who read my blog who this will mean anything to. As most of you know, many people are in shock and grieving at the loss of Patricia (Miller) Bigger and her two children Caroline, who was seven, and Anthony, who was four. Many people have posted recent pictures of the kids and the family on blogs,facebook, etc. I am going to post a slideshow of old pictures. When my family moved to Thomasville, NC many years ago, Tricia became one of my first and eventually best friends through highschool and on into my first couple years of college. Because we went to a REALLY SMALL Christian school, she and I were the only girls in our class in tenth, eleventh, and twelth grades. However, all of the kids in our highschool were quite close because it was such a small school. After we graduated from HS, we both came down to Hobe Sound the same year and lived on the same hall in the dorm. I was in Tricia's wedding but as time went by, we eventually went our own ways. I had thought a lot about her in the last couple years and actually joined a social networking site because I discovered that she was on it. Just since July, we had re-connected just a little bit and chatted back and forth a bit and she told me that she followed by blog regularly. One of the last comments I had posted on her page back in Dec. was about a dream I had just had. I had dreamed that she and Brent and the kids were in Hobe Sound visiting and I was so excited to see them and get to talk with her. I kind of thought that maybe we would eventually get together at some point and there would be more conversations, etc. So while my extreme grief and this post might seem strange to some of you since we were not close for the past several years, I can't help but remember that Tricia WAS one of the best friends I've had even though my fondest memories are from years ago. Not only was Trish a close friend but her sisters were kind of like my own sisters back when we were still in highschool. Knowing how close all 4 of my sisters and I am now, and how close the 4 Miller girls were, I can only imagine the pain Lydia, Sylvia, and Julie are feeling as well as her husband and the rest of the families. As I sit and watch the slideshow (as I always do when I get ready to post one) I am in tears again and I can't believe she's really gone.
I have gone back through old pictures and scanned in a lot of photos from high school and my early college years. While I regret not knowing about Tricia's children and life recently better, I have lots of good memories of the wonderful person she was back then and I know still was. As Mrs. Miller told me Tuesday evening at the memorial service, I'm sure Tricia would have been so happy to have so many of her friends from over the years together again. I guess this is my own personal goodbye to Trish and my little tribute to who she was and the great memories I have of a wonderful friend.
P. S.
I had a hard time deciding which pictures to use since I had so many of the two of us but you will see pictures of Jr./Sr. banquets, graduation, and many other school events. We used to joke about being Old maids and traveling around playing the guitar and accordian so when we had a chance to dress up for Wacky Wednesday our Sr. year of high school, we went with that idea - thus the awful picture of us and our sisters in horrible clothes. We both played the piano and loved to play duets as well as imitate southern gospel singers with our sisters. In college, we had tons of fun with a whole group of friends as you will see. That probably won't explain what was going on in all the pictures but that might give you a better idea. If you have seen the movie "Beaches" about two friends, you will understand my choice for the first song of the slideshow. It was taken from the movie soundtrack. The second song is self-explanatory.

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