True Friends are Forever

Grade School:

6th grade was the time I changed course.

I got picked on a lot as a kid and I was small.  My mom said I was a tough little shit. She told me to fight back and don't let the others win. Of course, I surmised that it was also wise to become one of the bullies. Better to dish it out than take it. 

I even for a while hung out with a gal named Nancy who was Big and Tall. She could whup any boy on the playground with her hands tied behind her back. She and I got into a lot of trouble in 4th and 5th grade. Enough so, that we were separated to different classrooms. I was labeled as a trouble maker and a Little Bully. I just was one of those little kids that fought back and fought dirty.

Then some new kids came to school. They were nonidentical twins came from somewhere else. 

They became instant targets by the other kids. I can't say why things suddenly changed, but I liked the twins. They sure didn't look like twins or even act like twins. But they were smart.

On the playground they were harassed and even Big Nancy started to physically bully them.
I saw that they were defenseless and perhaps I saw a little of me in them. I became infuriated, well as much as an 11 year old can become infuriated.  Somehow I sort of became their friend...and play ground protector.
It wasn't pity, I was angry that other kids could be so mean. It would have been easier to stay in the bully crowd.
Pushing back was a much tougher decision. I am not sure why or how I did it... 

But push back I did. Enough so no one touched them. I ended up having a stand down/up with the main bully girl. I looked up at her and told her in no uncertain terms that I'd fight tooth and nail if she didn't stop 'being mean' [I don't think harassing was in my vocabulary, nor was bullying a label yet].

Let's fast forward about 55 years. Thanks to Facebook, I got a message from one of the twins. She and her family were coming to LaCrosse, could we meet up and have supper together? Of course.

Her boys were just going to college. I started early raising kids, she started later.

She'd grown up to be one smart and graceful woman. Her job title and job were quite impressive. But she never tossed that in my face. She was a successful business woman and I ...well, I'd quit the business world to be a backwoods farm woman. It was as though time had never passed and we were still 6th grade buddies.

Sunday evening I posted some Art on FB, I think there was a comment about feeling in the dumps so I'd decided to do some abstract art as a distraction.

Yesterday my FB messenger came alive with messages from my grade school friend.

"Are you ok?"

Yes I am ok. Just felt dumpy the other day.

"Are you sure?"

...well, I wasn't able to answer because I had just let the dog out and walked out to do the chores.

My phone kept pinging and dinging while I was outside.

I walked in to hear it ping again and as I reached for it, I saw it was my grade school friend calling.

"Hey!" she said, "Are you okay? I didn't think I could just keep messaging you and decided to call you instead."

I let her know that I really was okay. The Isolation, the pressure from everything 'out there' going on, caring for Rich, and trying to be Normal was getting to me. Plus there was the crap weather and The Horrid Brown Season of Dreary-ness. I explained to her that I was fine. Just Stuff.

You know, that ordinary Stuff that goes on while taking care of a loved one who has memory/brain issues along with other things. 

She then informed me that she was going to make a Care Package and drive out with her husband and drop it off. 
I convinced her not to make the 3 hour drive. She had said they'd mask up and stay distanced. I suggested a visit in the warm weather instead of cold.

She conceded. The Care Package of goodies will come by mail. And she has decided that we need conversation more often. She lives just outside of Milwaukee and understands the atmosphere of Covid.

The point is.
Well you should get the point.

We had become best of friends so young.
And we still were.

This is to my hero Lin, who always seems to know when she has to have my back.