Simply Thrilled Honey
I received a brief, yet seductively withholding email from an old childhood friend today. Color me nonplussed. But oddly pleased.
One of the three sisters that were best friends of mine 20 years ago has come back into contact with a boy that I grew up with, whom I went to school with and lived right behind my house pretty much from kindergarten on up. As kids, the oldest sister and the boy had these strangely sweet yet tempestuous summer romances (the sisters would come stay with their grandparents here in Virginia every summer, which was the only times I ever got to see them) where as kids, being too young to have sex, sublimated our nascent adolescent desires by watching these two flirt, fight, make up, and sometimes, make out (when they didn't catch us hiding in the tree spying on them when they were lying in the hammock below). Somewhere in this yodforsaken mess I have an ancient audio tape that I made around the summer of 1983, with the sisters and I sitting in their grandparents yard on a hot summer day, picking the tar from the hot street off the soles of our bare feet, singing acapella to "Billie Jean" and "Atomic Dog", talking about cutting our hair to look more like Annabella Lwin, and particularly, the oldest sister, who was probably about 14 at the time, chatting away with this boy (who was about her age or older) in that familiar young, frustrated loverspeak that kids on the cusp of their sexual awakening know from every far corner of the universe. But around the late 80's, when the girls stopped visiting every summer, the older sister and the boy lost contact with each other. The same way I lost contact with them.
Now, 20 years later, the youngest sister found the boy on Myspace. He's of course no longer a boy, but an unwed gentleman still living somewhere in my town. The older sister, herself divorced and rather despondent, has been having regular conversations with him over the phone. And suddenly it's like 1983 all over again. The older sister is coming down to visit him soon. Apparently, neither has ever stopped thinking about each other. And maybe, just maybe... they need each other now more than they ever did before.
I don't know why I am suddenly flushed with the sweetness of it all. This is a girl -- a woman now, that I have always loved dearly and want nothing but happiness to make the right positive turns in what was a rather rough and unpleasant childhood and life for her up until now. I know these things don't always work out. And I know it's a stab in the dark. But I know my habitual optimistic outlook can't keep me from spinning around in my computer swivel chair with childish glee. If this works out I declare my noggin will simply explode from the sheer Hallmark Channel squooshiness of it all.
Oh, heck. Can't I just be back in junior high school again? Just this once?
*putting on "Billie Jean" and doing the moonwalk*
One of the three sisters that were best friends of mine 20 years ago has come back into contact with a boy that I grew up with, whom I went to school with and lived right behind my house pretty much from kindergarten on up. As kids, the oldest sister and the boy had these strangely sweet yet tempestuous summer romances (the sisters would come stay with their grandparents here in Virginia every summer, which was the only times I ever got to see them) where as kids, being too young to have sex, sublimated our nascent adolescent desires by watching these two flirt, fight, make up, and sometimes, make out (when they didn't catch us hiding in the tree spying on them when they were lying in the hammock below). Somewhere in this yodforsaken mess I have an ancient audio tape that I made around the summer of 1983, with the sisters and I sitting in their grandparents yard on a hot summer day, picking the tar from the hot street off the soles of our bare feet, singing acapella to "Billie Jean" and "Atomic Dog", talking about cutting our hair to look more like Annabella Lwin, and particularly, the oldest sister, who was probably about 14 at the time, chatting away with this boy (who was about her age or older) in that familiar young, frustrated loverspeak that kids on the cusp of their sexual awakening know from every far corner of the universe. But around the late 80's, when the girls stopped visiting every summer, the older sister and the boy lost contact with each other. The same way I lost contact with them.
Now, 20 years later, the youngest sister found the boy on Myspace. He's of course no longer a boy, but an unwed gentleman still living somewhere in my town. The older sister, herself divorced and rather despondent, has been having regular conversations with him over the phone. And suddenly it's like 1983 all over again. The older sister is coming down to visit him soon. Apparently, neither has ever stopped thinking about each other. And maybe, just maybe... they need each other now more than they ever did before.
I don't know why I am suddenly flushed with the sweetness of it all. This is a girl -- a woman now, that I have always loved dearly and want nothing but happiness to make the right positive turns in what was a rather rough and unpleasant childhood and life for her up until now. I know these things don't always work out. And I know it's a stab in the dark. But I know my habitual optimistic outlook can't keep me from spinning around in my computer swivel chair with childish glee. If this works out I declare my noggin will simply explode from the sheer Hallmark Channel squooshiness of it all.
Oh, heck. Can't I just be back in junior high school again? Just this once?
*putting on "Billie Jean" and doing the moonwalk*
posted by Melissa at 8:34 PM
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