Travelin WAYYYYY back in time....

Once upon a time in a land far, far, well ok fine, not so distant land, there was a neighborhood FULL of children who would wander and roam and play freely amongst eachothers houses.  The parents were all friends, the neighborhood safe and happy, and apparently, the friendships born......lifelong.

You see, back when I lived on Dragoon, right in the bend of the street, my two neighbors to the left were the Bradshaws and the Rohns.  I was WEE, I mean, VERY young when we lived there.  In fact, we moved away from there (all the way across the park) when I was 4.  BUT, that doesn't matter, because our bonds were cemented in, well, cement.

In the 35 years since I moved away, somehow we have managed to keep abreast of eachother and remain friends.

Sheridyn moved off the street when she was 10, but only 2 miles down the road, and we were always in teh same stake and our parents are besties, so that was easy.  Kimmies parents divorced when she was 8 and at 10 her Mom remarried and took her and her sister off to Florida.  I have literally probably only SEEN Kimmie about 5 times in those intervening years.  BUT, enter facebook, and all is solved.

Here is what i can tell you...
Sheridyn is the oldest of a lot of kids.  And the Bradshaws are synonymous with PEPSI!  That was a fascinating thing as a kid, cause trust you me, we didn't have no cola at our house.  I regularly scaled our backyard fence and made my way into their house like I owned the place, cause apparently I was a crazy tomboy at 18 months old. 

Kimmie had a HUGE canopy bed in her room, which was awe inspiring and MIND.BLOWING to us simpletons.  Noone, and I mean NOONE had a bed like that.  Shoot, I had an ugly old bunkbed that I occupied the top of.  Which was NOT a good thing, as I was wont to fall off of it and hurt myself.  Anyway, also at Kimmies house, in the hallway there was a picture, like real art.  It had some form of nudity, but you know, tasteful, like botticelli-ish or something.  BUT, I could barely take the fact that there was nakey going on.  One time I asked Kimmie about it, and then her sassy, snotty little self informed me that her parents slept like that every night.  Again....MIND.BLOWN!  Naked parents? NEVER!  If you'll all recall....I thought people got pregnant by hugging, clothed until I was well into 6th grade.  I certainly couldn't believe anyone ever got naked. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!  Oh the innocence of youth!  Also, when I was 3, I was playing on Kimmies swing set and somehow fell and cut my eye open just below the eyebrow.  I marched myself home leaving a trail of blood behind to prove my toughness, and then was taken in or several stitches, and ahve the scar to show it.  Finally, Kimmies Mom (Margaret) would always tell me that I could be a Vogue model someday.  This was so confusing and really meant nothing to me in the sense that i didn't even know what a Model was, much less a VOGUE model.  But, it had something to do with the fact that I had high cheek bones and was tall.  Whilst those assessments may have been true, I also had a strong proclivity for the fat and that won out, therefore putting the ki-bosh on my modeling career.  Anywho.....I digress.

Just for good measure.....Vintage shot of Sheridyn and Kimmie at my 5th birthday party.

There they are again, at the front of the raft.  Playing at my "NEW" house with the pool.  I do have to laugh that they are the only ones wearing FLOATIES! Amatures!

Just after Christmas the three of us, along with their two Moms (mine was out of town) got together for lunch, and I can't tell you how fun, and easy it was to just get together and visit.  We laughed about old memories, discussed the old neighborhood, filled eachother in on old neighbors and friends and talked about where our lives are now and just enjoyed a wonderful afternoon.

Kimmy, Sheridyn and the jolly blue giant, um, I mean ME

Don't ya hate when two cameras are going off at once.

Funny how they both look JUST the same no?  Kimmie has so much beautiful hair, it's not fair! (total poet there)

Seriously.  I truly do NOT realize or remember just how tall and or big I am until I see pictures next to a bunch of normal to short sized people.  What is UP with that?  UGH!  And, do I look pregnant, or just fat? 'Cause mostly, I'm pretty sure it's the fat, not pregnant thing.

Kimmie just had a baby in October, so she feels my "old lady" having a baby pain.  AND as a side note, just found out another of my friends from the neighborhood is pregnant and she'll be 40 when it's born.  HA!  At least I'm not alone.

Anyway, it was a lovely afternoon, a lovely lunch and such a fun time to reunite and reminisce with these wonderful women in my life. 

Here's hoping that we can do it again before 35 years pass by.

Memories and munching,

Allyson