the end of an era

I used to have this friend Yolanda. I knew her since the eight grade. I was her first friend when she moved here from north carolina. one day we were lined up outside of a class waiting to go in and I seen that we both had the same shoes on. I don't even think we became friends right then, it's just my first memory of her. I don't even know how we "became" friends but we did. we were inseparable. and we stayed inseparable for almost 20 years. I don't know what happened but we're no longer friends. maybe people aren't meant to stay that close forever. maybe people grow apart. I just don't know. so I went to redbones on friday night for my friend bryce's last night of work. I think bryce worked there for 10 years. he was the first bartender I became friends with there and the first one I "followed" and because the owners have taken a new found interest in running their business after being absent for a very long time, they've decided to "ask" the one night a week employees to leave. I have been going to redbones for so long that I don't remember a time I didn't hang out there. but it's not the same as it used to be. the above picture is from redbones. me and yolanda used to go there every wednesday night after our day class at umass boston and before my night class at bentley. Joe used to bartend downstairs and at least 50% of the time, I didn't make it to my night class. anyways, me and yolanda wrote on the picture ME + YO heart JOE. we LOVED joe. I still love joe, yolanda probably not so much. I took the picture a while ago to remind me what times used to be like. the picture now has our writing painted over. it's not the same as it used to be. to me it really does feel like the end of an era.
that was the end of my week, which almost was the "straw that broke the camels back" but it didn't. here's the rest of the week, working backwards:
wednesday day and night I ran around like a maniac and finally got home at 11 pm to shitty news about a couple of people I know, people I really do think of as my friends. the news had nothing to do with me but it left me really sad. sometimes you think you know whats going on with people but you never truly know what happens in people's private lives. I'm sorry for my friends and I hope they know that I'm there for them if they need anything. because I may be a raging bitch, but I am a loyal bitch if nothing else.
went to scla on tuesday - and almost took this dudes head off when he gave me an attitude about using the box and 30 lb db's to do my step ups.
on monday we found out my dad has another brain tumor. this time on the right side of the brain, whereas the other is on the left side. so we're dealing with two brain tumors right now. they've been "watching" the left side for a while now but he's been in a lot of pain and acting crazier than usual so he went in for an emergency mri two weeks ago. we won't know until tomorrow (hopefully) what the next course of action is. but needless to say my family is in turmoil. my brother who's in dc is freaking out about not being home. my sister calls me crying about having to sell my dads car, because that's when it hit her that things will never be the same. my mom shows no emotion ever so I have no idea how she's coping. not a clue whats going on with kerri and I'm just taking it day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. I try not to think about it, but who can do that? it's always there but I am trying to push it out and not freak out or jump to conclusions about what this means.
so yea, the end of an era. that's what it feels like to me