Lori Brewster Goldsmith
OMG! NOOO! I am heartbroken. Laurie was my bestie in HS. After HS, life and responsibilities called, I moved to NY and we eventually lost touch. But the parallels in our lives were amazing which is probably why we were besties from the day we met. I was new in town my sophomore year and knew no one. She was a year ahead of me but Tavares High is a small so we had some classes together. For a week or so, Laurie and I sat beside each other in one class and both of us were small, quick and had razor sharp tongues that kept us both in a bit of hot water at any given time. So the friendship started with us taking turns cracking each other up and generally getting into mischief.
After we became tight, she wanted me to meet her folks which was fine with me because it got me out of my own house; the source of much ongoing pain and darkness. I walk in, and I could hear her before I saw her. :-) I see her talking to her mom, Linda and my Middle school algebra teacher/mentor from a neighboring city, Bill. I said, "Laurie, why is my teacher/mentor eating dinner with you? Is he mentoring you too?" She rolled her eyes at me and said, "No stupid, that's just my dad." LOL! That is how we spoke to each other and it was 100% love despite how it may have sounded to others.
Fast forward a year or so and we were tighter than ever. We share the same 1st and middle names and were both dating guys named Jim. It confused most everyone except us so we made it easy and became known as LC and LB dating JD and JT . The guys didn't last but the friendship did.
One day, Laurie was quiet and I asked her if something was wrong because it was so unlike her. She said she was tired of worrying about me going home every night and had nightmares. She said, "Either you pack and get the hell out of there or I will take things into my own hands." I wasn't 100% sure what she meant but i knew her well enough to know that it would quite possibly involve a 100 pound blonde wolverine going loco on 250 pound step-daddy." So I packed an overnight bag and she sent me back to my room and said, "Get it all. We wont be back." She was right. I was 15 yrs old then. Without batting an eye, Linda said, " No problem. You'll stay here. You're here most of the time anyway and I will sleep better knowing you aren't going back." Thank you Linda. This is long overdue and I want you to know that whether you realized it at the time or not, you were kind to me at a point when I was so young and vulnerable. I saw no way out of the abuse and was contemplating suicide. You changed my life and my view of adults which was, at that point, way too jaded and weary for a 15 year old.
And to Bill, who saw potential in a lost, angry child and took time out of his own schedule to make sure I knew that I had the potential and mattered; thank you. You were tough and God knows I gave you a lot of lip but you showed me that the despite the noise I made, you weren't giving up on me because I was worth more than a footnote about another teenager lost. I want you to know that my life has been good. I've been an ICU nurse for over 30 years and preceptor to young nurses interested in Emergency Medicine. I was front line for the the AIDS epidemic, worked the Miami disaster recovering bodies after Hurricane Andrew and now covid. I have a healthy, well adjusted 29 year old son (again with the life parallels) who is actually way smarter than his mom and I am married to the love of my life for the past 13 yrs. And finally to Brandon: sweetie, Im so very sorry you lost your mom. Its too soon & not fair. When you're ready, I want you to know the wonderful woman I knew. My phone is 727-418-0917 if ever you want to hear about her as a kid. She would do the same and it would be my honor. Lori (Brewster) Goldsmith
