You Can't Make Old Friends

Tommy- Tommy was our neighbor and lived kitty-corner behind our house. We made friends through the board fence that separated our back yards. I think we were three. I remember talking to him through the fence and he was allowed to climb over, or crawl under and join me on my swing set. One day Tommy and his family moved away. I never saw him again and all I have of this memory are a few slide pictures.

Al- Summer of 1969. I was five years old when Al's family moved in down the street. Since I was allowed to ride my tricycle on the side of the quiet neighborhood street, I went out to meet these new friends. Al and I would spend many days that summer "baking" mud pies (To this day he claims they were the best ever!) We picked flowers, and rode tricycles in his back yard. When September came, my new friend and I shared a bus stop and a kindergarten class, while our mothers shared coffee and conversation. After second grade he moved away to Canada before returning two years later. He says we're still best friends.


Joey- I was eight years old and out walking the family dog when I met a brown haired girl who asked my name. When I answered, she replied, "My brother loves you." Thus began the story of Martha and Joey. Joey and I spent the fall and winter playing outside at the playground, the edge of our woods, and walking to and from his house. On cold winter days we walked the ice of the frozen creek and wrote "Joey+Martha" in the snowy banks. In the spring we caught garter snakes, played with his little sister., and then he moved away too. I missed him terribly.

One day a letter without a return address arrived in the mail. My mother searched out an address from one of the neighbors and a long distance relationship began. I was nine and he was eight and a half. There were letters ( a few), and an occasional phone call, for the next eight years. I saw him twice during our family vacation south in October of 1978. He played football for his high school and I was smitten once again. Ah, childhood sweethearts/teenage love... (I have no photos of us together, just a last winter's picture of the creek we walked as third graders.)

Chip- It was the summer of 1979 when I met Al's cousin Chip. Someone new and exciting in the neighborhood for the summer. We played Hide and Go Seek in the corn field, Frisbee in the street, and rode double on my bike all the way to the village. My parents would eventually become his legal guardians and by early 1981, I was pregnant with our first child. We were seventeen. In June we were married and soon after moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico with the help of his older sister. By December we were back in NY state with our 2 1/2  month old son. In January the long awaited but dreaded letter from Joey arrived. (Did I say they were few and far between?) I wrote back knowing I would never hear from him again. I grieved the loss for years, but the relationship had always been more dreams and fantasy rather than reality Eventually I tucked all those dreams into a little orange box along with his letters, and covered it with a white top with a puppy dog glued on top, and left it in my childhood. Chip went back to his given name of James and we went on to build a life together, including our seven beautiful children, and ten (soon to be eleven) grandchildren.

It's been a good life with hard moments. I'm thankful that God is still here guiding me, teaching me, holding my hand, and carrying me when I can't go on. He is good and He knows all.