growing up friends

friends ... my first real friend was Lori Whittaker. We were in the same grade and probably 3rd grade I was walking home for lunch, she came up to me and started talking. I was soooo shy and she was the sweetest, nicest little dark haired girl with pigtails, braces and glasses :) We just clicked and it was good for me to have a friend, mostly I had played with my cousins. Lori lived a couple blocks away. We would meet each other part way, which meant in the middle of the church block. Lori was in ballet for years and at the end of high school, earned a dance scholorship to New York, but I don't think her dad let her take it. The thing with Lori was she would sleep in until noon or after, which was half of my day. We didn't stay up late at night like the Whittakers, so that would get frustrating at times. We played with the time we had. She was a good good friend. Another friend lived across the street from me, LaNae Cook. I loved her dad, Lloyd, he reminded me of the Marlboro Man (commercial, guy on a horse, selling cigarettes). Loved that man! He smoke, he drank, but we had beer in our refrigerator all the time, so no big deal. He was so kind. Then there was the stepdad , Dick, and I kept away. LaNaes mom was an alcoholic and she was scary to me. How LaNae turned out so well, with a smile on her face all the time I'll never know. Sometimes the other kids and I were not the nicest to LaNae and made fun of her - kids can be so mean!! We still keep in touch and we're now in our 60's. That's a good friend. She's a year older than me so we didn't have classes together. Julie, my cousin/sister, was my best friend! People thought we were twins - I think I've already mentioned that on this blog somewhere. We did everything together! Aunt Ruth and Uncle Keith took us to SLC to see George Harrison (Beatle) at a concert, coolest thing! We were probably 16-17. We went to different schools until high school, but a lot of weekends we spent together. One time she spent a night at my dads house with me - when we went to bed we giggled over the flies that circled the dinner table and how hungry we still were. I wished she could have gone to dads house with me every time I went, she didn't. When we were younger, we would make up games...when we got older we did things we weren't supposed to, at least that I wasn't supposed to. Nyle, a second cousin, was a friend too. She, Lori and I would play sometimes. She lived close to Lori so easy to get together, the 3 of us. Her dad and my grandpa are brothers. Everyone was so different, came from such different families and yet we all got along, at least for awhile.