midwest girl at heart: Old Friends

A lot of my time in CA last week was spent making the rounds to see old friends. And I saw a lot of people, but I missed a lot of people, too.

For some reason, I felt like it was really important to pack as much in as I could on this trip. I guess part of it is because Mom and Dad are moving out here shortly. That doesn't mean that I won't still go to back to Bako to see people, but my trips may be planned differently from now on. Instead of just heading out to crash at Mom and Dad's for a few days, and then visiting friends, my trips will probably have more of a purpose now.

So, Sis and I took advantage of our time in Bako. She got to stay a few more days than I did, and I know she packed them full of visits...oh yeah, and with getting 3 cavities fille - bet that wasn't so fun.

On Saturday morning, my oldest friend came down to see us from Fresno. She is 6 weeks older than me, and our parents have been friends forEVER! Her sister is the same age as my brother, and then the youngest in our families - my sis and her bro - are a couple years apart.

Growing up, we spent a lot of time with them. Our moms took all 6 of us kids in a VW Bus on a cross country trip one summer (I don't think I could do it!). We went camping with them, and our parents would leave all 6 of us with ONE babysitter while they went out together.

Once we were old enough to be on our own, we'd stay home while they went out. Libbie was the oldest, so she was in charge...but that might not have been the best choice. =) There was the time that the power went out in a big storm, and Libbie tried to find candles to light, but she broke a glass and scared the rest of us to death. And there was the time when we heated up the mercury thermometer with the space heater until it exploded - boy, did we get in trouble for that one! And her dad, a former Marine, would make us march around the house singing the Marine Corps anthem.

And let's not forget about the time that she tried to evangelize the jehovah witnesses on the front porch while our parents were gone somewhere, or the time we convinced her (I don't actually remember this) to wake up my uncle from his nap and he took a swing at her in his unconscious state, or the time we locked the babysitter out of the house, or the many many many times one of us kids would hide in the car of the other family to see how far away we could get when they drove off before anyone realized there was a stowaway.

Wow! I could keep going, but that's a pretty good picture of my crazy friend. Actually, we all tended to get a little crazy when we were together and that was the fun part. We were so close to her family that we called her parents Aunt and Uncle, and we still do. We keep in touch via email and newsletters, and the much too infrequent visit. Her family is spread out all over the country like mine is, so we'll have to work on getting a reunion planned soon.

I also went to visit some good friends who we met through work. When The Colonel and I started dating, he was good friends with Stevie. Stevie ended up being one of our groomsmen, and The Colonel was one of his 6 months later. I went to the same university as Stevie and his wife, but we didn't know each other then. As The Colonel and I got to know each other better, we went on several trips with our friends. And Stevie was the first person at work to know that we were engaged.

They are good friends of ours, and we miss hanging out with them now. BUT, if we were still in Bako, there might not be as much time to hang with them anyway, because...they have triplets now! The kids are 16 months old and as cute as can be. They are so loving - they all ran to give Mom and I hugs when we got to the house to visit them. They are very active, and I think their mom and dad need a little break. =) I promised to bring The Colonel back with me next time so that he can play with them until they use up all that energy.