Games

Nintendo. Old maid. slap jack. monopoly. sorry. Barbie. ken. dress up. Quints.

Those we the games. I won every single time at monopoly. Still do. I have old maid cards hidden away for my kids. We thought we were so mischievous - bending the corner so we knew which one NOT to pick. This could go on for hours and hours. During the summer??? Walks. the bright sun shinning. the asphalt hot on our bare feet. The trees - no blossoms in sight that spring had just past. Green - dark green... no sign of turning colors. Swimsuits. Basketball. Chalk (or rock - they were cheaper :)). Sleepovers. No school. camping trips. bike rides, Rollerblades. ice cream trucks!!!!!

This is how we grew up. We played with barbies well in to our teen - tweens... Then Jr. high came. I was 2 grades ahead of her. We went to different schools. Our friendship took its first rocky trip. It was different. but we still remained BFF's. We still had our summer time. That is when notes took over.

We had millions of them! ok, it seemed like a million of them. Random things written down. We were 'cool'. I would write them at school and take them to her house afterwards. Different school - remember??? We got each other. We understood each other. We were 'outcast'... different. Now like the other girls in our neighborhood. we did things we wanted to do. We didn't care what others thought... well we did but we hid it well. I was envious of her cool clothes, her new dance moves or the stylish hair that was never the same as before. I felt so grounded when summer came. It took me back to my roots. It gave me oodles and oodles of time to do whatever we wanted. Sleepovers were the best!

We walked alot... around and around and around the neighborhood we went. We would talk about everything and anything. Mostly the boys that I liked. I never remember it being hot outside. We would bask in the sun shine and burn within 15 minutes of being in the sun. We both had super sensitive skin. But that never stopped us. OH! And we cant forget the grass that we would always pull when it got to long and make a 'birds nest' with grass and dead branches. We had great imaginations.

In church, we always sat by each other. We always played the 'dot' game in sacrament. In Sunday school - it was painful. We were always in different classes. All of but 6 months every 2 years. Then young women's... we always sat by each other - in the corner - towards the back.

When one of use was gone, it seemed like and eternity before we got to see each other again.

Then there are the times that we would fight, fight we were like sisters. Sometimes she wouldn't answer my calls. Sometimes I wouldn't answer hers. As I said - we were like sisters. Never once, did either of us questions our friendship. At the end of the day we were still friends.

Then another school change came. I was a sophomore. I couldn't wait to be in high school. Our friendship hit another rough patch. High school was alot busier than jr high. We still had our quirks and funny ways. We were still different then the other girls, and we still stayed friends... even though we were on different levels during the school year. My sophomore year blew by in a breeze. That was the summer of '99. It was the year my sister graduated. It was nice to have a big sister to spend a year with and show me around. Protect me yet tease me. Then she graduated and we started with summer all over again. Only this summer i turned 16 and was BOY CRAZY. Little did I know how much my life would change now that i was 16. I was in my bedroom. the phone rang - and I heard my mom calling my name....