Mr Chard-I think my first best friend was Mr. Chard. 

Rhonda-across the street and down the hill was another friend, Rhonda. She was the baby in a family with about 12 kids. We were only five years old and she was already an aunt. We used to ride branches on trees like they were horses bouncing up and down. One time I got new red Keds, and came to show Rhonda. She was in the bathtub, so I straddled the bathtub to show her and fell in and got my brand new shoes wet. I was really sad. We spent hours playing in the little creek near our homes. Then we moved up the road, too far for little kids to walk, so I would see Rhonda at school but we didn’t play together anymore. I run into her even now 50+ years later and we hug and visit like usual.

Kati-I only remember playing at Kati’s 2 times, and maybe it was the same time just a sleepover. We rode snowmobiles around their fields. It was fun and exciting to do something I’d never done, also something I wouldn’t do again till after high school. I remember her mom made me a soft boiled egg for breakfast. It tasted good, but I’ve never had one since. 

Martin-my mom would leave at Martin’s to be tended. I might have been about 6-7 years old and my favorite thing to do there was play in the barn. We would play in the tack room, sitting on the saddles pretending we were riding horses. if you click your tongue and move your hips it’s pretty close. It smelled so good, hay and leather!

Dawn-she was a not always there, friend. It seemed like I was always available to play and she wasn’t. She lived around the corner and most of the time she couldn’t play and if she could and would she was sometimes not very nice to me. I guess when you are lonely you will put up with a lot. So we played when she was in the mood, which wasn’t often.

Michael-my first “boyfriend“. We were in 3rd grade. He was adorable. Blonde curly hair, blue eyes and he thought I was cute too. He wore this fancy leather vest everyday, with long fringe on either side of the chest and across the back. It started about chest level going across horizontally and hung down to the bottom of the vest. It would dance around as he walked. One day I told him I thought his vest was neat and he took it off and said I could wear it. That‘s when I knew he thought I was cute, too.  I felt so special. He let me wear it everyday.