I was just corresponding with my friend, Brandy, whom I've recently reconnected with. She now lives half a world away, up in Michigan, and I am stuck in Kansas. We grew up in McPherson, Kansas. I moved there from Little Rock, Arkansas in 1975, when I was in 2nd grade. She was my first true friend. We met that fated day on the playground of Washington Elementary, near the tall slide. I was sliding, and she was running around nearby, when a big, tough, bully popped up and pushed me down, causing me to chip my two front teeth on the slide poles. Brandy saw what happened and pummeled the boy, coming to my rescue. OK, so he wasn't all that big, and she didn't really "pummel" him, but she DID come to the rescue of one smallish, buck-toothed, shy mouse of a girl. And we became fast friends after that.
Brandy and I were die-hard horse lovers, swearing to save the environment together and never own a car. Ha, that didn't last - she got a cool old mustang, and I got a Chevy El Camino with a 350 V-8 engine (and 7 speeding tickets in 3 years). We did everything together - played horses, played neighborhood hide & seek in the dark, spent hours at the library, explored the old lumber yard after hours (probably shouldn't have done that), and just "hung out." Daily. We were pretty much inseparable. She always stuck by me, and we were always friends. I sure was a lucky girl to have such a great friend.
Now we are all grown up, with lives and families of our own. It is fun touching lives again and seeing how similar we still are. Her sense of humor is so funny, and reminds me of laughing-so-hard-I'm-going-to-pee-my-pants times when we were younger. She is one of those bright, shining, positive but realistic people that you just want to be around. and I'm lucky again to have her as a friend.
2 comments:
Wow, Anne all those nice things you said about me! Thanks, that just PROVES who the good friend is!!! I always felt like the mousey weird one,legs too long,hair too short(are you a boy or girl syndrome)nose in a book and never the right one, I could go on and on but what would be the point? How did we survive all that??
We had so much fun, and so many games that we made up and played. I always had so much fun with you, always an adventure! You were always so sure yourself, confident. I knew I could always be myself around you. Being friends with you was the best part of my childhood. :-)
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