Friends

 I almost took today off from writing but I really do want to establish a habit until I think that I have either worked through my issues or until it has morphed in some way to something else.  I just really didn't want to be sad and truly digging through sometimes unpleasant memories can be heavy.

That being said, I think I want to focus on friends.  I have friends that have a friend network that goes back decades, truly.  I don't and most of the time, I am okay with that.  We all enter this world alone and that's how we go out. Well unless you were a multiple birth.  My student asks me every few months who my best friend is and I know she is on a fishing expedition.  She needs to hear that she ranks in my life enough to be named.  She doesn't like my answer though because it is Glen.  We have been friends for such a long time and we usually behave like friends.  He wants to sit and drink coffee with me in the morning, we take turns deciding what to watch and even with that we are mindful of what the other person avoids, he knows I don't like to dry so I usually wash.  

The friends in my stages of development have been pivotal.  I don't have a whole lot of memories of friends before we moved to the West University area. In the West U area, Mom was working hard as a single Mom and we were on our own a lot. When we moved there, I don't remember how, my I became friends with Erica Herndon.  She had a lot of friends and I am pretty certain that I ranked lower on her list than she did on mine but that was okay.  She lived about five blocks away in a house that was perhaps 3 bedroom 2 bath and she didn't have siblings.  This was so novel to me as I was always scrapping for my place with Rick and Matt---seriously stuck in the middle. Erica, though, had at least 3 doting parents: a Mom, a Step-Dad, and a Father.  During this time, I had one. Mom.  She lived with her Mom and her Step-Dad in what I thought was a dreamy house. There was color and style and there were pretty things.  I remember my awe at her bed linens as they seems so cloud-like.  Any way, she was nice to me and we spent time together.  

My best friend, however, was Julie-Anne.  She was also an only child, living just down the street from me with her Mom and Dad.  I know her Dad was former Air Force and her mom a Psychologist.  Her Mom later divorced her Dad and took up residence with a woman.  That was pretty earth shattering for 1974.  She and her parents also had nice things. I think mine were all hand-me-downs and our furniture was not quite as stately.  With both of her parents working, I think we might have been their charity case.  At any rate, Julie-Anne had fabulous creative birthday parties.  Her parents owned a sailing vessel that could sleep 5 as well as a small Prindle cat.  I wish I could thank her parents for including me in so many of Julie-Ann's experiences for a few years.  They were so kind!  Julie-Anne attended a private school while I went down the road to Robert's Elementary (where I frequently dropped Matt at Kindergarten).  The difference was inconsequential as she was a year younger and we wouldn't have been in the same class anyway.  Being with Julie-Anne and her parents was my first real glimpse into what a happy family looks like.  Her Dad, even after the divorce, stayed near and active in Julie-Anne's life.  

I guess what I am realizing is that everyone in your life has a role:  some are principal actors, others supporting actors, and there is always the crew.  My heart is full of gratitude, for those few years in particular.