Saturday, October 23, 2010

Childhood Friends



I think when you become ill, your mind takes you back to people and places from your childhood or old friendships. There sometimes may be an urge to try to find someone from the past. I was thinking the other day about my grade school friends in Illinois. When we moved in 1966, I never saw any of them again. I was twelve. So young. I didn’t know how to maintain friendships then.

My best friend was Martha. She would defend me when kids would call me “Freckle-face Strawberry!” As I have thousands of freckles, I hated when that drink came out. How cruel.

She and her family lived in a big old house in sort of a worn down area of town between the noodle and the needle factories. Her parents were lovely and she was very nice and stable. They just didn’t have much.

Her father suddenly died and her mother collected on a huge life insurance policy. They moved into a brand new house in a new pretty area of town. They even threw a surprise going away party for me before we moved to California.

I have tried to find her. Women with their married names are so much more difficult to find than men. I would love to speak with her as an adult. She was so smart and I am curious to know what she has done with her life.

She was such a good friend to a small freckle-faced kid.

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