My friend since birth..Barb...

I can only hope to be able to write 1/10th of the memories I hold of Barbara and her family...her mom ,,her dad, and her 5 siblings...My mom and her mom were best friends I guess from high school on and they had kids together ...only Barbs mom had 6 and my mom only had 3...lol..they were both working woman and I remember they were co- brownie leaders and of course me and Barb were Brownies..Oh they were the days..meetings on Tuesday nights at St Johns church on the bottom floor...good times..we did crafty things..I think of those crafts sometimes and try to remember how to do them..some were really cool...We were in a parade in our little town and our theme was ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS MY TWO FRONT TEETH..and we had some sort of Head of a kid with his 2 front teeth missing..so cool...

We grew up together...both of our families lived in another little town first..then when one moved the other moved and in both towns we were only down the block from one another..I was always at their house..every day until I was 12...thats when we moved a few more blocks away....that was the year we started 7th grade...so now we didn't hang together so much anymore...we met other friends and I know for me I did different things with different people..We use to go swimming every day in the summer time..It was a small community pool and all the kids and adults went there..I got up early every morning for years because I took swimming lessons...loved that part of my life...

One thing me and Barb did was take tomatoes out of their garden and I took some from my grandparents garden...we ate them right then and there..fresh off the vine.til my lips got sore from the citric acid ...

I remember a few times Barb and I visited the newborn babies at the cemetery at St Stanislaus..I remember wondering why they only lived one day or 2 weeks ..and I remember feeling sad...we were only about 11 or 12 ...but it was something we did a few times....We used to play in a little playhose next to their house ..Bonnie's playhouse...we played school and talked and were just girls ...tweens...

I had a wonderful childhood..and a good bit of my greatest memories come from knowing and hanging with Barb...sometimes we hung with her older sister... She kissed Bill and I kissed Herman..me and Herman used to "date"..which meant we made out on his parents couch when everyone else was in bed...thats all we did was make out for hours...and hours...for months...we were young...and then we went on with our lives ...and went to the same school and grew up and grew apart...life..lol...

Over the years we had kept in touch off and on..Always able to find each other..then in June of 2008 we met in the little town that we grew up ..she lives in Hawaii and was coming to Pennsylvania for her sons wedding..we decided to meet at the park in the midddle of town..not far from our "neighborhood"..It had been 40 years at least if not more since we had seen each other..but it didn't seem like one minute had passed when I saw here...her hair is gray and long now..it was always short and brown...her face and her smile and her hands and her stature were exactly as I remembered..we hugged and cried for a minute or two..then we sat on the bench and talked for awhile....she is still tiny and petite...I've always been a chunky girl...now I'm fat..but she didnt look at me any different..it seemed like I was the same ole' Brenda to her..funny how that happens...I was nervous before we met...what would she think of how big I got?? I am disabled and I gained a lot of weight since I retired 7 years ago...

We sat and spoke for awhile and took pictures...my youngest daughter was with me and her husband was with her..when it was time for them to go we hugged and I promised I would get my health together so that I could go visit her in Hawaii...I am still trying to do that...In my heart,,and in my soul I will always love Barbara...she is and always will be an intricate part of my lifes story...she the beginnings and she will be there at the end...How lucky I am to have been a part of her life too...!! Thank you Lord...