EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — In the 1960s, two gal pals living on the same street in Edwardsville, Illinois, had no idea they were forging a bond that would outlast their lifetime. Sandy Bitzer, 69, and Carla Russell, 70, have shared major life moments and now share grandchildren.
The unbreakable bond began over their love for music. Sandy remembers playing piano "badly," and "we still laugh about [Carla] playing Lady of Spain on the accordion." The pair joined Brownie Scouts, rode bikes and talked about everything.
"I don't remember a time that I didn't know Carla," Sandy said. "She lived up the street from me. She was in the first block, I was in the second block. We had a friend in common that kind of lived in between." During summertime, they would meet at that friend's house and listen to The Beatles music under a carport.
Sandy still has the yearbook from middle school where Carla wrote: "To a real neat gal who will, I hope, be my friend forever."
Once they graduated high school, the pair journeyed to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Sandy and Carla worked with the school photographer and majored in the same field of study; education. They both met their future husbands at SIUE.
"I was in a fraternity and Sandy was in a sorority," Mike Bitzer said about his time at SIUE. Sandy introduced Mike to Carla, giving him a front-row seat inside their universe.
As fate would have it they became brides and bridesmaids in 1976 when Sandy married her husband Mike in March and Carla married her husband Paul in August.
"We weren't in a hurry to have kids," Sandy said.
The Bitzers waited years before they welcomed their first child, a boy they named Josh.
"I can remember going over to visit him when she had him," Carla said." It was hard because at that time I wanted a baby so so so bad."
"It was really hard to tell her that I was pregnant," Sandy recalled.
After years of trying, The Russells welcomed Jen, a three-week-old baby girl, to the family.
"When we were able to adopt her it was the happiest day of our lives. It was amazing. That's probably the reason she has been so spoiled her whole life," Carla said snickering.
"We became moms and life got exciting and complicated and stuff like that. But I remember being at Jenny's baby shower when they got her," Sandy said.
A little while later the Bitzer's welcomed a second child, a girl they named Paige.
Carla and Paul were no longer in Edwardsville but her family moved to neighboring towns. Sandy and Carla always kept in touch and gathered family, at least once a year. The two families would go to restaurants or each other's houses.
Sandy recalls a time when Jen would follow Josh around and Paige would follow Jen around.
Jen recently recovered a note that she wrote to her friend in grade school about how cute a boy named Josh was.
Looking back, "He was very shy and I was very not shy so I think he was more annoyed by me for most of our life," Jen said.
At the same time, Sandy and Carla joked for years saying "Wouldn't it be funny if our kids got married?"
The once hypothetical question Sandy and Carla joked about no longer seemed funny when Jen connected with Josh on Facebook. They were college graduates when she messaged him about hockey hoping it would prompt Josh to ask her on a date to a game, and Josh eventually did ask her.
"I never dreamed it would even happen," Carla said.
When the lifelong friends learned that Josh and Jen were dating, they were both happy.
"She fills in all the gaps," Josh said about Jen.
Jen and Josh married after two years of dating.
"Usually when you're meeting the in-laws it's kind of uncomfortable but it never was for us, it was just another family get-together," Jen said.
The mother-in-law/ mother's friend dynamic can be complicated.
"I'll call my mom and she will say now Jenny you're talking about one of my best friends. So then I need to take a step back. Cause I would hate if somebody was talking about one of my friends."
Sandy and Carla's relationship reached new heights as they began to team up for their new goodwill question for their children; when are we going to get grandchildren?
"Jenny used to think I was great until I became her mother-in-law," Sandy said giggling.
When the time came for the pair to welcome their grandchildren, Sandy and Carla waited in the hospital lobby together as friends and family. Sandy felt that it was a full-circle moment.
"Everybody should have a friend like Carla. I feel so blessed that she would still keep me as a friend," Sandy said. "I just love her to pieces."
Thanks to their friendship, they have two grandsons they now share.
As co-grandmas, Sandy and Carla see each other at sports games for their grandsons and family gatherings. As friends, they meet up at least once a month during their high school graduation class' "Third Thursdays," a social gathering at local pizza places around town.
"We've had our ups and downs but I love her," Carla said about a friendship that has withstood the test of time and grown branches on their family tree.
