Old friends are the BEST friends

ANDREA ALLYSON KAREN

The fall before I turned 5 my family moved to W. 6th Avenue. I'll never forget the day that my Mom took me across the street to meet Karen. Karens Mom and my Mom were first cousins, and now she wanted to me to meet "my cousin" and soon to be best friend Karen. Well, Karen wasn't home that morning, as she was off to kindegarten, but we met soon enough and our fate was sealed. Karen lived across the street and kittycorner one house. Andrea lived behind me, across the alley and kitty corner one house. In those days, we roamed free in the neighborhood. Noone was afraid to walk to a friends house, thru the alley, or down the street. We played outside, we feared not. I've known these girls for 31 years, they have been my friends for THIRTY ONE years. That's a little frightening to type out, 'cause it means we're old. But wow those 31 years have certainly made a lot of memories. We went from cute little elementary kids, thru our awkward years, on to highschool together. We (well they) got married, had kids, I went on a mission, hung out, got married, hung out, had kids, We learned and changed, evovled and grew up, always knowing that we had "best" friends right there. We each have gifts, talents and strengths that are all different from eachothers, and we can all appreciate eachother for who we are. Suffice it to say, I'm the "dramatical" one, and I apparently do things that are wierd. haha like asking a total stranger in the restaraunt if she'd take a picture of us. Karen and Andrea giggle under their breath something about me, while I explained to our photographer that I had a blog, it was something that had to be done. She smiled knowingly and said she had one too. See, she totally got me. Anyway..........

Karen was/is sweet. She has the tenderest heart, and a real love for animals. She's very "homey" and good with gardens and homemaking. She loves to laugh, and I'm pretty sure she will love the 80's forever! I love Karen!

At Karens house, we jumped on their totally cool trampoline, where I was injured more than once, doing stupid things. We watched videos, 'cause Karens house had one of the original vcr's, and let me tell you, it was HUGE. But, they recorded cool old movies off the Saturday morning movies on TV. Because of Karen, I learned to love Calamity Jane, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Unsinkable Molly Brown and more. Karens Mom rearranged their furniture like every other week. This totally fascinated me, 'cause at my house, the furniture NEVER moved. The missionaries lived in a little apartment attached to her garage. We had sooo many "crushes" on different elders through the years. We would eat tangerines off their tree until we got sick. Karen was my friend that when we were fifteen, we would sneak out and "steal" the car and drive around in it. We'd cruise by a certain someones house over and over, 'cause she was so in love with him, hahaha. We were just always friends, I don't remember a time (well ok, those first 4 years on Dragoon) when we weren't. After we graduated, she went off to Easter Arizona and did her own thing. Then, she got married and started having babies. We were in very different places in life adn we sort of drifted. Not that we weren't friends, we were just different. Now, we see eachother about once a year and maybe talk twice a year.

Andrea was too pretty for her own good. She's the quiet one. She makes beautiful and adorable things. She's a very good person, and I admire her for that.

Andreas house was cool. I wrote a whole entry about it months ago, 'cause it burned down. But, it had hiding places, and bathrooms and a corner booth kitchen table with a cool old phone. Her phone number was 969-0944, I'll never forget it. She was truly the most beautiful girl in the neighborhood. We were all afraid of her Mom, who knows why. Andreas family went out to dinner at restaruants, something I was again totally fascinated by. She would tell us about the places they ate, soooo cool was she. At her house I totally turfed it on her swingset just days before school pictures. I have the scraped up face to prove it in my 3rd grade pic. She totally broke her leg jumping off a second story balcony (in our friends house), and she was jumping off to show ME that it wasn't that scarey. I was too afraid to do it, and she showed me, hahaha. They both always had "boyfriends" and I was just the fat funny sidekick. Andrea moved away just before 9th grade, but I ended up going to Taylor that year, so we shared that experience. Even though she went to Mesa High, and I'm a mighty Warrior, we still knew a lot of the same people and always kept in contact. She went off to EA as well, she also got married and started having babies at a young age. In fact, I sang at Karens and Andreas receptions. They both had babies within 2 weeks of eachother. Karen just figured out how to stop at 4 and Andrea went right on until she got to 7, hahaha. As the years have passed, we certainly don't see eachother or talk as often as we should, I'm not proud of it, but it's just how it is. But you know what, I know that I can pick up the phone anytime, and have a fabulous conversation, we can pick up like there has been no time off, we can laugh and giggle and fill eachother in on life.

Tuesday we got together for lunch, and it was just really such a wonderful 2 hours. We laughed, we reminisced, we talked about kids, life, etc. I'm so grateful that TRUE friendship, never dies. You know why that is? Because old friends really are the BEST friends.

Thanks girls for a great time. Can't wait until next time. Now, you out there in blogoland...pick up the phone or e-mail and call an old friend, it's totally worth it.