Memories with Sandra & the old neighborhood, Part 2....

OK, so as I mentioned the other day, I recently got to see Sandra Kidd again. How funny to think about some of the memories we've had together. I completely forgot a moment, until I saw her comment, that I think to myself...how could I forget?! How could I not have included this in the "Get to know Sandra". Many years ago, as young & oh so smart teens, we felt the need to confirm our lifetime friendship. You must have some kind of ritual for this bonding moment to be memorable(and yet, I still forgot), right? Of course! So, let me try to give you the best visual of the moment while I try to recall the specifics. I'm sure it's in my journal actually....humm, maybe I should go find it. It describes the moment Sandra & I became true blood sisters. Now this was before Aids was even talked about, or anything that should suggest you should not share blood. (fortunately we didn't have much to worry about at the time :}). So, we had the music set...I can't recall which music; but, we're sure it had to have been Purple Rain since we listened to that on a daily basis :}. If not, then I'm guessing it was Depeche Mode's Blasphamous Rumors (another one listened to often with us two!). We got the razor blades & put our bloody fingertips together over the candle flame & said our little ritual. It was like a "Girls of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" moment. :} Ha Ha....that just makes me laugh. We we're such dorks! We, in our sense of rebellious nature & obvious destructive behavior, had all ready done silly things like carving erasure burns in our hands for the initials of our crushes at the moment (and we had a lot....man, I think back & know I was waaaayyy to boy crazy!! Please help me if Kaley is anywhere near that!!). Good thing my name also starts w/ S, made it easier to explain! :} Though, really...how do you actually explain burning your skin w/ an erasure until it is raw?! And then, having a new crush, and changing that to a B... OK, seriously, teenagers are so stupid sometimes! I do have the remaining scars that, despite reminding me of how dumb I was, makes me smile all the time! :} Speaking of scars, there could be a whole nother blog...oh the stories each one could tell! :} Kind of like our blood line & family history, they are reminders of what you've been through up until now, good & bad. (OK, so got sidetracked...we'll call that the ADD in me :}). Sooo, yea, we both had hard lessons to learn in becoming who we are today. You really have to wonder how we lived through some of them, honestly. But, here we are...SURPRISE, WE'RE STILL HERE! :}

And as I think about times with Sandra, of course I think of the neighborhood as a whole. Which makes me think a lot of our times hanging out in "the field". What a fun place to have in a neighborhood full of kids! (now a bunch of nice homes :(). Many of you will remember this field...next to our elementary, Twin Peaks. Just across from the church. This is the field that my brother, and the late & great, Kelly Gunderson (oh I miss him! we hung out in that field many a times! :}), and friends started a mattress on fire. (It's funny now! :}...and that was nothing like the time he burnt his leg while jumping off the roof of the church & started his pants on fire with the matches & rubber bands in his pocket...yea, not so funny! That was Steve, gotta luv my bro!! :}) So anyway (there I go again), many things happened in that field , whether it was when we were little & playing "Charlie's Angels" (I have visuals of Melissa & Pam running up the hill back to back with their hands held out as if they had the guns :}); many rounds of hide & seek; riding our bikes for hours...learning how to master the jumps & where the good ones were; cutting through to get to Jill Chytraus or Heidi Stewart's house to play in their pools or tennis court, or whatever fun activities we could find (what fun houses those two had!); or, hanging out down in the hidden valley, our cool cubby, to drink a beer or whatever other things we shouldn't be doing; or, for all the 1st kisses that may have occurred there! :}...oh, the stories the land could tell! :} Please remind me to be understanding & forgiving to my kids as they enter their teenage years.. I guess now that I write this & think it through, the real question is....how did our parents survive?! Maybe that's the lesson we had to learn?! As we are now parents trying to survive raising our kids. Who knows?! So really, let's be honest, the "What goes around comes around" scares the hell out of me!!

As long as we're laughing about the silly old days...let me throw in a few pictures that she had that certainly should give you a good laugh!

Don't ask.....just go ahead & laugh!

One of our many camping trips where we had to be daring enough to swim down the river in our bras & panties (I'll leave those pictures out thanks :})...such rebels at church camp!

And a couple of others of us on our visits over the years..

Sorry folks, we're still here & not going anywhere anytime soon! :} At least, not that we know of!