Major nostalgia

[mizarchivist]

You know those friendships you have when you're a kid- the epic ones where if you were 15-20 years older, you'd want to marry that person (gender be damned) and love them and hug them and call them george?
That was Stacy for me.
She was teh first person I met when my parents and I moved right before kindergarten started. I'm an only child and whether I like it or not, there are quirks that go along with that status. Various characteristics that may be innate anyway are amplified or left to wither.
My headstrongness, naivity, need for order, and sense of (in)justice were all left to run rampant without a sibling to temper me. I suppose I was lonely as well, but practically from the minute we met til the day she moved when I was about 10, she was The One.
My earliest memory of Stacy is reinforced by her own retelling of it. It must have been late summer, as she was eating a tomato like an apple in her front yard. I came over to say hi and she offered some to me. "UGH/no way/I hate tomatoes" almost certainly sprang from my mouth.
Stacy, her mom, dad, 2 sisters (Michele and Holly), and uncle lived in a weeeee house that was on the perimeter of our school yard. I lived directly across the street. I always thought that was the coolest thing ever; we never had to take a bus and didn't have to get up extra early to get to school. When Stacy and her family lived there, I had free passage to cut through their yard to get to mine to and from school. Just about every day in kindergarten, I'd look eagerly outside when recess was going on (we little kids had 3/4 days with no recess) to see if I could find her. Then after, we'd walk home together and inevitably end up playing for awhile.
And the games we came up with! Lush imaginatative things- running away from home, pet horses, vampire familiars (also convenient scapegoats for a 7 year old hell-bent on writing on the walls... but I'd never!) the inevitable games of house, plus Scooby Doo inspired variations with the undercarriage of the school's merry-go-round for a time traveling device that had the extra spice of behedding or mangling if we fell from the supporting spokes- no, really!)
If there was a sleepover, I usually would go over, since my house was just too big. Her parents even let me go camping with them.
Certainly I had other friends, but none that I so consistantly wanted to spend my time with. I know she got sick of me from time to time, as one will do. And while I'm sure she must have irritated me, I honestly don't recall them. It was tough not to be included in her recess games very often, but even if I didn't understand, I don't think I pushed it. Afterall, she was a grade ahead of me and recess politics can be odd at times. On one occasion, my father captured this childlike adoration on film. Stacy and her folks were off doing something and so wasn't around to play. I was heartbroken and decided to wait by the window in the hopes they'd be back soon, so little six year old me is sitting forlornly in one shot, then gloriously happy at the sight of her return.
Stacy's parents were not meant to be together forever- so when they finally divorced, the women of the family packed up and moved to siberia (the next town over). I was so crushed. It's very safe to say things just weren't the same after that. I have no idea if we would have remained close throughout our adolescence if she had still lived across the street. We would see each other occasionally- particularly after we could drive- and without a doubt, Stacy had a turbulent life from then on out and spent a lot of time being angry and destructive, dating people who are usually better to be viewed from afar. She, like 2 of my other very close friends, ended up having a child very early in her 20s and like our mutual friends, didn't stick with the one who helped with the whole baby concept.
Just a few weeks ago after literally years of silence, she wrote my mom n' dad including a picture of her new daughter. Naturally, this was passed on to me and just yesterday Stacy emailed me directly. I'm so gratified to be able to reconnect. I'll take what I can get. Time and distance have been and will be against us, but at least now we are reminded that the other is around. Here's to you, Stacy Jane. Welcome back to my bit of the universe.

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[drwex]

*does the happy dance for you*