Early childhood friends (or at least those I recall)

My first friend was my sister Katherine. She is 1 year and 3 months older than me. Apparently for the longest time she was all I knew existed in my small world. My mom tells me I did not know there really was anything else outside of my own yard. I remember we had a fence enclosing the whole yard - backyard was chain link with green slats running through it - west side yard was white wooden planks (3 layers of them with open space between each layer and the only thing between me and the neighbors ditch) - front yard was a white picket fence - driveway was open except when we were outside playing and then my parents placed a plank that covered the space from picket to picket, a plank that was about 12 inches high. I never knew I could just step or crawl over it. That was outside my realm of knowledge. It amazes me to think back that I never step over it.

I don't know what Katherine and I played together, probably with our Barbies. I had one official Barbie "Christie", she was married to the teddy bear. Hilarious to think about it. Ironic that my daughter Aimee owns about 50 Barbies, most have made their way to Grandma and Grandpa Garrett's playhouse - stripped of their dignity - but enjoyed by the grandchildren. I believe she still has 10 or so stashed in a box under her bed here in Fallbrook - the precious ones she just could not give up.

One day, while Katherine and I were playing outside, she and another friend decide to see if they could split me in half (I really don't recall the reason for the tug of war.) Katherine took one arm and the friend took the other and pulled opposite directions, this was my first experience with my elbow being pulled out of its socket. I wore a sling for about a week while the elbow mended and worked its way back into the socket. I now know how to gently slip an elbow back into its socket after taking Aimee to the doctor a few times for the same problem. The first time was when she was two having her own tug of war with me at a bank, she was ready to leave and I was not. I was holding firmly to her hand as she pulled to go the other direction. A kind "mommy and me" teacher showed me the technique on the third instance on a field trip to the San Diego Harbor.

Another favorite thing Katherine and I did together was play on the jungle gym. We would race to see who could climb to the top or cross the monkey bars the fastest. The jungle gym was also our rescue point from the "crazy" cat. We had a cat that would literally chase and tree us on the jungle gym. After he caught Katherine once and clawed her arm with numerous scratches, causing a serious wrapping of gauze for protection while healing, the cat was gone. The jungle gym had a solitary bar that stood at about 4 or so feet high. It was perfect for flipping your body around and around till you were too dizzy to see straight or to just dang with your feet over and head hanging low. I was not very careful one time and had a loose grip with my legs, just loose enough for Katherine to flip my legs over and "thump" my head hit the ground. It took a few hours of rest for that headache to go away.

It may sound like Katherine and my playtimes together seemed a bit on the bully side, but those moments were the exception. Katherine was the friend who paved the way for me to meet the outside world. Our first friends beyond each other was Katherine's friend Kristine Priest and her sister Sherrie. A favorite activity was riding our bicycles up and down the street, another was playing "capture the flag" and some silly game throwing a ball over the house and sneaking back with the ball to capture the other team while yelling some rhyme. ( I can not for the life of me recall a name or the rhyme.) We also explored the horse pasture and fields behind the Priest's home. Kristine introduced us to MaryAnn, her neighbor, and eventually the whole neighborhood opened up.

Katherine has always been one step ahead of me. When I headed to high school, she had already experience the perils of it, when I left for Ricks College she was there to rescue me from my homesickness and at BYU set the example for the next step in our degree - elementary education. Our children; Anthony and Aimee, Kristin, Trent, Alyssa and Desiree, are best friends cousins. Her home was Craig and my place of refuge from the Fallbrook fires. I am blessed that she is still my first and oldest friend.