Amy, otherwise known as The Gradual Gardener, is the one in the upper left hand corner. My memory told me that SHE was the one wearing striped Dr. Dentons, but alas, it was not her. However, she WAS wearing a baby blue colored sleeper but I cropped the picture because Striped Dr. Dentons girl’s ass was showing and this is not a site for creepy pedophiles, even if the girl is now in her 30’s.
That’s me with the cheesy grin and the big “thumbs up” sign. I’m sure I was thinking, when this photo was taken 25 years ago, that someday I’d be using it on my blog on the internet to make Amy blush 3,000 miles away. Not hard to do since her cheeks are almost always red anyway, but still.
The event was a sleepover for my 10th birthday, apparently. Sleepovers were big back then. I remember I had one for my ninth birthday and there were more girls in attendance but apparently we all gave my parents a heart attack so I only got to have 3 girls over the next year. But on my ninth birthday someone gave me Billy Joel’s “Glass Houses” (on vinyl, I’ll never forget the matte cardboard album cover) and thus began my lifelong love/confusion with Tom Hanks of Billy Joel.
Anyway. So Amy and I have been friends since kindergarten. I don’t remember much but I will share some memory snapshots that I do remember:
-I loved her and envied her from day one. I always tried to copy her. She had a Snoopy lunchbox with a ribbon tied around the handle. I made my mother get me the same lunchbox.
-She was really creative (=weird). She inspired me to be creative, too. We were both in the Gifted and Talented Program that they started in our school system when we were in third grade (the same year they introduced Computers…with an Apple IIe that was as big as my dog) and we would go off to a neighboring school in the little yellow bus and try to solve logic problems and design imaginary planets.
-She used to walk home every day for lunch which I always thought was so great so every now and then my mother would write me a note and I could go home with her for lunch.
-She had really cool toys and a fun house to play make-believe in. We would create treasure hunts for each other, leaving little pieces of paper hidden in places all around the house and yard, with clues that led to the next one. There would be prizes at the end, but I don’t remember what they were. Looking back, that seems so touching that I remember the journey but not the destination.
-She always had the BEST Halloween costumes. Her mom was very talented with the crafts so she would make Amy’s costumes and all kinds of other cool stuff.
-We went off to the same middle school, which is where we started to drift apart I guess, because I don’t seem to have any pictures of her from that time. They are all of me and my other oldest friend Christine.
-We definitely lost touch after high school when we both took very different paths in life. I would hear about her from time to time when someone I knew ran into her. I vaguely recall running into her when she was pregnant with Amazing and Already So Grownup Daughter. Amy had to grow up fast back then, when I was still just running around like an idiot with no true responsibilities and a crazy notion that I wanted to live 3,000 miles away from everyone who mattered the most to me.
-Then last fall my mother ran into her at Joann Fabrics. Instead of telling me about it, she gave Amy my blog address and there she was in my comments section one day! We reunited when Kyle and I went back to CT in October. It was such a profound experience to see her again. We have known each other for almost 30 years.
-She is NOT allowed to post anything remotely similar to this post until MY birthday. Because I’ll totally cry.
I remember the sleepover that caused your parents to limit all future sleepovers. I think we were a little…LOUD. It was on my mind a lot last year when we moved my daughter’s bedroom to the attic! Of course, my parents had a different solution to that: Most of the sleepovers at my house took place outside, in the tent! Do you remember my crazy neighbor Larry, who waited until it was dark then chased us around with an axe yelling, “Here’s Johnny”? And then he came back outside with a can of shaving cream, and you ended up having to borrow one of my nightgowns to sleep in because yours was covered with shaving cream? Was he a weido, or what?
You can’t really expect me to wait until the end of September to share all this!
I just wanted to say thank you for writing this. I was a few years behing the two of you, but the memories are very similiar. Okay, well not the sleepover party that you got in trouble for, but the Gifted bus, the walks home for lunch, the treasure hunts, and her creative vibes in general. For the treasure hunts, I don’t remember what the prizes were either, but Han Solo was always one of the clues.
I remember this sleepover, but not the earlier one! Oh wait, was that the mystery-theme birthday party?
It’s funny, the treasure hunts must have carried over to the next generation because I remember my mom making them for me when I was younger too! I remember my prizes were usually stickers.
I LOVED this post! It made me think of my best friend–that I’ve known since third grade. We played flashlight tag instead of doing treasure hunts…..What a great post!