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strolling down memory lane


I don't know why I was thinking about childhood summers recently, but I remembered a couple of B-list friends who must have moved away by the time we got to high school. These chicks were friends of "the twins" -- the twins were my A-list friends and they lived right around the corner. They were identical and their names were Karen and Sharon. I always liked Sharon a little bit better because Karen was kind of mean.

Anyway, Karen and Sharon were the youngest of seven; I was the youngest of six. I believe this is where my intense desire to be a twin germinated -- it just seemed so cool. The twins had a friend who lived directly behind them and her name was Betsy. Her mother was divorced and really mean. That's all I remember about the mother. She sent out a bad vibe and I did not want to be around her.

Betsy had a younger brother named PJ or JP, and a younger sister. I can't remember what the sister's name was. PJ/JP was maybe two years younger than Betsy. I'm not sure if he was mentally delayed, but he wore some kind of hard metal brace to hold his spine straight that made him sort of look like Frankenstein. These two metal rods went straight up the sides of his head and there were screws that went into each temple. I think the brace went down to his waist, I don't remember. I do remember trying to act normal around him, but being freaked out because I didn't know what the deal was with him.

I think I asked the twins once, but they were uptight and told me not to talk about it. So the mystery remained.

I just now remembered the mother mentioned in front of us that the younger sister had a yeast infection. That's a crazy memory. I'm guessing the younger sister must have been around four years old, maybe five. I can't imagine saying something like that in front of my kid's friends. Different times, I guess. And isn't that peculiar that a four-year-old would have a yeast infection?

Back then I didn't give the mother much thought, except to desperately want to stay out of her way. Like I said, she wasn't very friendly. Thinking back now, she obviously had her hands full with three kids and no husband, plus one high-needs kid.

Maybe she would have done a little better with some Prozac in the house.

I think I only played with Betsy a handful of times and only with the twins present. I remember feeling a little jealous of Betsy and wondering what my standing was with the twins.

On the same street as Betsy, but further down and across the street lived a chick named Suzy. She was an only child and her father died when she was young. Her mother's name was Mimi. I liked her mom, but it seemed like she was never around. Same story goes for Suzy. She was a friend of the twins and I think I was intrigued about what it was like to not have a father at all, but the twins hushed that one up, too.

It's weird. Thinking back it makes me feel like I was so socially inept. I wanted to know about the differences these two families had, but the more socially savvy twins told me to just pipe down and don't ask questions. I guess they knew it wasn't polite.

I'm pretty sure Betsy and her family moved away before we got to junior high. Suzy made it to ninth grade with us, then rumor has it she got pregnant and she disappeared. I do remember she got progressively wilder and wilder as time went on. I suppose Suzy was a case study of what growing up without a father can do.

Now when I think back about that stuff, I have two overriding thoughts.

First, parents seemed so removed back then (in the 70s). I spent so much time at the park, the library, riding around town on my bike or at a friend's house. The only rules were that I had to be home before the streetlights came on.

I cannot imagine sending my eight-year-old out on her own for the day and expecting her back around 7:30 or 8:00 at night.

The other thought is how difficult it must have been for those single mothers.

I wonder whatever happened to those people.


2006-12-31 at 9:09 a.m.

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