Tuesday, February 4, 2020

August 20, 2015- Friends- Part 2


We had good times at our family friend Maureen’s house esp. at St Patrick’s Day parties-The Quiet Man was almost always on TV during these. One Halloween there was a Wizard of Oz themed party; I was dressed as the scarecrow.

   We would always have tea when we visited her. I went apple picking with her and some of her kids and grandkids once.

   Mom and grandma had been friends with her for many, many years. We saw more of her when we lived on the other side of town than we have since we’ve been only a few houses down from her. She’s the one who mom used to go to after big arguments with Dad.

   One time I ran after her crying and begging for her to come back and she told me to go home.  I always was afraid that she would never return. That would have been a total nightmare.

   It’s hard to believe that we ever used to have friends. At least mom had a social life again – this past year she’s been going to the senior center. Mike is very outgoing but I’m the exact opposite; I’m only good at observing, not communicating.

   Aunt Ann once said that I was being like my father when I was hiding in her attic so that I didn’t have to face socializing with Aunt Pauline and a few cousins. I went downstairs but felt so anxious which is super pathetic. I can’t even feel comfortable around my own family.

   Maybe I’m not even capable of being in relationships besides the Sharon one. What if I even screw that up? I sure hope that doesn’t happen though.

   Sharon does so many nice things for me. I am so lucky that she is a part of my life. It has been like 30 years since I’ve had a friendship as close as this one. Kelly was my first best friend.

   By 8th grade that friendship was over partly thanks to Dad. He was mad that Kelly’s parents didn’t take us to school as much as mom did. After that argument we never really associated with her and her mother anymore.

    We might have eventually drifted apart anyway; Kelly did start hanging out with 2 of the popular girls more.  I wasn’t cool enough for her, I suppose. This is still upsetting 3 decades later.

   I loved playing stuffed animals with her. Her Cindy bear had a crush on my Poochie one. She also had Scrunchy the Shop Rite bear.  Sometimes we would pretend that her house was California and mine was Florida or vice versa. She was in my brother’s class, 2 years behind mine.

   One day when Kelly and her mom were visiting us, Dad actually said (in an angry tone) “What are they doing here?” That was so mean. Mike reminded me that often he would lie and say that we weren’t home when kids called or came over to see us.

   We also had fun taking walks, bike riding- both of which we would sometimes do in the woods near our town- and swimming in her pool.

   Six of our friends had pools; we had a sprinkler. Dad slipped, fell, and sprained his ankle when running through it once. I wasn’t envious of them; I did have some jealousy about my friend’s toys though, like Cindy and Jessica’s Speak and Spell and Lite Brite and Michelle T’s Quiz Wiz.

   We did join the Cranford Pool for either 2 or 3 summers. Mike and I took swimming lessons there. I still have the certificate from that and also one of my pool passes-1983. I almost hit my head on the diving board once. We sometimes got subs from the Butcher Block nearby for lunch.

   Some of our classmates were members as were our family friends, the Prescotts. Our Dads worked together at GM and our Moms were Bradlees employees. Their 3 kids went to the same schools as us. Mike was closer to Jeff than I was to Pam though. She gave me her old clothes sometimes. Jeff’s gecko got into a bag of these once which totally freaked me out.
 


Oz- 1991

Scrunchy bear


 



Gecko

 
 

 

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