trading pogs? all the different shades of jellies ~ pink with sparkles, clear like cinderella...? new kids on the block bed sheets, out of this world, playing house in my parents basement - hanging up thick teal curtains to be our fake walls? squishing lightening bugs between our fingers, running around barefoot - feet like indians? how it felt the first day of summer when we'd go to bangert pool, jumping in the water eyes closed and noses pinched? making clubs outside the gym doors on the steps that led down to the playground, talking about boys we thought were cute and those we thought definitely were not? riding our bikes, not going home until the sun began to set, picking rollie pollies from underneath bricks and stone? mud pies, pretending like we were runaways, picking cicadas off of trees - their thin legs stuck perfectly in the bark? hiding the party invitation for gary and greg because we didn't want boys at my party ~ and realizing that we couldn't fool my mom as easily as we had thought? tape on socks, our first BOP magazine and the first feeling in our stomachs of being in *love*? light as a feather/stiff as a board, streaking the in the alley, and playing truth or dare? cassette tapes, pressing rewind, and making plays to beauty and the beast in the basement - trying to charge for evening shows?
growing up, growing apart, and then growing back together?
some of the best memories of my life are those i have with my friends ~ all of you. and i am so thankful to still have those that matter in my life. we've all gotten older, but i hope that each of you know how much you mean to me still even if we no longer have long summer nights of dirt and grass stains, sweat and laughter.
jenny said it best:
our relationship ebbs and flows ~ and it is that, i am most thankful for.