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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