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This is the last weekend I got to spend with Michelle, it was for Brad and Jules wedding in Seaside August 2010.  This is a photo with my little guy Luke, Michelle said she was all about "holding sleeping babies, but as soon as it poops or cries it will no longer be welcome".  Michelle at this time was sick and was in pain - but she still managed to drive down for the wedding and stay at my dad's house.  Though even in pain she never lost her sense of humor and at times it had gotten a bit sharper (that is saying something when you are talking about Michelle's wit).

That weekend trip also reminds me of the many wonderful times Michelle came home with me during college and after college.  How we often would go to Doogers in Cannon Beach to get clam strips, potatoes, and eggs for breakfast.  Celebrating 4th of July down at the beach despite the crush of people and threat of fireworks lighting hair on fire (we were witness to this more than once).  Going for a drink at the occasional Gearhart firemen's Ball and listening to music at bars.  Michelle visiting the Aquarium where she worked in High School (she loved that job) and walking the prom.  

The photo reminds me most of two people who are no longer here in body, both leaving within 2 1/2 months of each other and way too early.  Luke died the day after Michelle's 1st birthday without her.   Even though in body they are not here, in soul and in our hearts they are.
Melissa Hancock
 
Michelle and I met my freshmen year at Western Oregon University.  We quickly became inseparable.  She was my go to friend at any time.  She was a study buddy, my confidant, my Boones drinking buddy :)  She rapidly became my best friend.  We would stay up late and watch TV.  We shared many inside jokes, and enjoyed being joint at the hip at parties and laugh at everyone else making fools of themselves.  Little did we realize we were also making fools of ourselves.  
     Unfortunately, like many friendships ours cooled down a bit by our senior year when we were all making decisions about our next steps.  However, she still was a friend I could call in a heart beat.  She helped entertain guests at my wedding, and got some great laughs at my baby showers.  She came to all our Christmas parties always giving me some small unique gift, that I treasure.  We still have some ornaments she has given to us, that mean even more to us today than ever.  She came to the hospital when my daughters were born, and would coax my oldest into putting candy in her pockets at parties so I could find it later in the washing machine. 
     I know we lost touch a bit, but I loved being her roommate, confidant, and what we used to refer to ourselves "college best friends."  She could always make me smile and look at things through a different lense.  I will NEVER forget how she touched my life!
Lori
 
The details of when I first met Michelle are a bit fuzzy, but I suppose the memory of a six year old is not the most reliable.  Michelle was the new girl in class our first grade year and since my mom always taught me I should go out of my way to make new students feel welcome, I did just that. It was in one of those moments that our friendship blossomed and it wasn’t long before we became inseparable. Michelle was my first true, meaningful friendship, my first best friend. 
Our gradeshool years were filled with sleepovers! At Michelle’s house we dressed up in her mom’s makeup, put on funky clothes (which I am proud to say included stirrup stretch pants, florescent pink tops with matching socks and New Kids on the Block hats) and strutted our stuff around the fish hatchery and along the banks of the Columbia River. At my house we were footloose and fancy free on the farm; swimming for hours, riding the three wheeler, staying up late talking and making up silly dance routines to Debbie Gibson and Tiffany.
The end of our fifth grade year brought the news that Michelle was moving. I was devastated and truly thought my world was coming to an end. I didn’t know what I was going to do without my best friend. We both promised to write and our mothers promised to drive us to see each other in the summers.  Everyone made good on their promises.  We wrote letters like dedicated pen pals but with the flare of best friends, sharing all of our feelings and secrets.  Over the years, this resulted in multiple shoe boxes full of letters! During the summer months we would take turns staying at each other’s house for up to a week at a time. I visited her on multiple occasions when she lived in Enterprise and Cascade Locks. We always kept in touch.
By the time she moved to the coast we were in high school and our contact dwindled, as one might expect from busy high school girls. We saw each other only a handful of times and wrote fewer letters, but still remained good friends. As luck would have it, we ended up attending the same university and lived together my last year in college. It is there that I met her new best friend, Katie, and she and I became instant friends as well.  It was so fun to be close to her again after all those years and we seemed to pick up right where we left off. A few years later, my husband and I moved to Salem while Michelle was going to beauty school. We had a house with an empty bedroom and she was looking for cheaper rent, so once again we became roommates! We used to always joke that we would never be able to get rid of each other!
Michelle has always held a unique place and been a solid fixture in my life. I always admired how she stayed true to herself and her beliefs, never wavering or being influenced by the crowd, even at a young age. She was there for me during all the important times, good and bad; including when I chopped my hair off in third grade and was devastatingly mistaken for a boy, to being with me the night I met my future husband, to sitting with me as I sobbed and broke the news that my mom was dying. As young girls we shared the innocence of childhood and as adults we conquered life’s challenges. 
We shared a long journey; she and I. There is hardly a time I don’t recall her being in my life. I miss sharing my life with her and being part of hers. I miss her sense of humor, her wit, her sarcasm, her inability to use the word “well” correctly, and her style.  But mostly I miss my oldest pal and the bond that can only be built through twenty six years of friendship.
Katie
 

Michelle wrote this poem in 1997 towards the beginning of our friendship; during our freshmen year in college.  She gave it to me framed along with two different photos of us.  In one I look good, she looks slightly hung over and is wearing coveralls (not a great look for anyone not on a tractor, but for some reason that first year in college we both owned multiple pairs).  The other photo I look rather buck toothed and a little inbred - Michelle looks adorable.  Michelle was a very fair friend, just one of the reasons I will always love her, miss her, and most of all treasure our friendship.  The important people in our lives never really leave and are felt with every purpose and dream we have. 

Cross-sections
By Michelle Gribble (1997)

From salty air where pacific winds blew sand in our eyes: we worked and played
dressing up for Homecoming and going out 'til late during prom (dodging cops)
dealing with the tourists and regular porno video renters until graduation: moving to the next step
leaving being parts of ourselves
making way for the people we are yet to become by starting anew
coping with our challenges differently, yet placed in the same small room in the same small town
unable to smell the salty air or view the sea reflect the red, orange and yellow hues of the sun
dealing with new, unfamiliar problems in a new unfamiliar setting talking of our dreams and goals
sharing some good times, el mucho mal tiempos, and our clothes
getting lost, confused (sometimes), though we fumble through until we find where it is we need to be even if it takes 5 hours
learning to balance business and pleasure (though if there were a war, business would surely lose the battle)
you wake up early: I go to bed late
both wanting to run towards the future one minute
then wanting to be 5 years old again, sucking our thumbs while mommy makes us chocolate chip cookies with milk
however, life is taking us on a forward motion, looking back means you are being passed by
so as we continue to lead our lives, whether we part or continue as our lives have.
I know I shall see you again, where your dreams take you and we will know part of our dreams were shared influenced by each other: FRIENDS

Total Memories: 4
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