i was 6, and my middle sister and i shared a best friend. school was out and the whole summer was ahead for the 3 of us, with nothing to do but enjoy it together. our vision came to an abrupt halt when we found out that our best friend in the world was heading off on a vacation with her family to a far-off land called, ‘wisconsin.’ we couldn’t bear to be away from each other and so we came up with a plan to stay connected even though we might find ourselves in different states. we spent all day and gathered up every bit of string and yarn and twine we could find. we spent hours tying them all together to create ‘the world’s giantestbiggestlongeststrongest string ever.’ 

soon the big day arrived, the day of their departure.  as our friend and her family drove off, she was sitting backwards in her family station wagon and she kept the back window down. she held tightly onto one end of our magical string, while we stood on the street in front of her house holding onto the other end. after about 100 feet, at the corner, the string broke. my sister and i stood there dumbfounded and a bit sad as we realized our plan had not worked out as we expected. we could only imagine what she was feeling. when she returned 2 weeks later, we all laughed about it and went on with our summer together. the most wonderful thing is that through many years and many states and many life events, including the death of my sister, we still remain friends, like sisters, and forever tied together.