Three's Company

Imagine three awkwardly skinny girls walking the neighborhood block, ... or depending on the day, roller blading or biking it. Swim suits partially covered by shorts soaked through on the hiney with bathing suit wetness... Stair steps in height, spanning over a foot's difference. You would have thought they were sisters with at least a few years age difference, rather than friends aged within 11 months of each other. ...Always giggling, probably about the night before when they had stuffed their older sisters' wonder bras with socks under their shirts for pretend, making sure to keep the bedroom door locked to any siblings who would surely tell the entire world of their 'stuffy' secrets.

They played restaurant through the window connecting the kitchen to the back patio, serving bread spread with peanut butter topped with cinnamon & sugar, and English muffin pizzas. Each New Years Eve, they recorded themselves on cassette tape documenting the year or the evening, or whatever entertained themselves most at the moment.

Weekend after weekend, these girls' parents were approached in the most careful (and even childishly manipulative) ways possible begging for yet another sleepover. Whose house would the sleepover be at this time?

These friendships started (hip attachments included and all) at ages 7/8 (even age 6 for two of us) and are still strong to this day! Perhaps it was that Friendship Pact four of us made at Dillon's Beach on our multi-family camping trip during early middle school.

(Remember that too Kara? - good thing we've gotten back in better touch the past couple of years, we would have broken the pact! Not to mention, I completely value our friendship!)

These particular three included Jessica, Caitlyn and me! Jessica & I found a chance to be college roommates for a year and we were able to keep close tabs with Caitlyn who was in school a couple of hours away. Now we still all talk regularly on the phone, even all three on conference call sometimes. Our conversations have gone from planning carefree summer days filled with swimming days & rather interesting versions of lemonade stands to boys to young adult relationships and woes to married life to pregnancy to young motherhood.

Well, lucky me!! Because now I don't just have to have PHONE CONVERSATIONS with at least one of these dear friends; Jessica! I just found out a few days ago that Jessica, her husband & their two adorable daughters (just older & younger than Taya) are moving here to the valley for PA school for her husband (Dave)!! I have known that this might be a possibility for a long while now, but even last week they thought they were probably choosing a different school in California.

Lucky for me, they're coming to sunny Arizona instead!

Yay! Time to celebrate! Should we stuff our bras, pick up roller blading again, or make a celebratory cassette tape recorded with nonsense to celebrate?! Probably get together and watch our daughters play is more like it (but we'll just remember the good ol' days). Except what I love about our friendships now too, is that it's not just about remembering the good ol' days. We continue to relate & have substance & understanding of each other.

Maybe we can get Caitlyn to visit us if we're lucky!

Can't wait to have you here Jess!!

See that foot difference in height I'm talking about? Our lovely outfits were for the school talent show in which we had performed our sweet Michael Jackson jazz number. Oh, and the faded pics? Those are of us performing our little toe shoe ballet number to Pocahontas at Girls Camp in the lodge.

And then there are these glamorized photo shoots my brother-in-law humored us by doing while we were in high school. I love the over-the-shoulder effect. It cracks me up!

(Me=left, Jessica=middle, Caitlyn=right)