Let Me Tell You a Story

A story about two little girls. When I was still a little kid my family decided that it would be a good idea to move into the middle of nowhere...in the back hills and hollers of Tennessee. I mean we're seriously talking about living at the corner of BumF***ed and You Got a Perty Mouth. It was that country. I don't think the move phased me much at all. To me, it was an adventure. I had acres of land to run on, woods to play in, animals to tend to, and fresh air to cool me down on those hot summer days. Even though I have moved many times, and have no intention of moving back there, to me it will always be "home".

We moved at the beginning of Summer. Greg quickly made friends with the boy that lived down the road from us a ways (the boy that ya'll know today as Bubba John), and I either played with them or by myself. I was and still am a bit of a loner I guess you could say. After the Summer though it was time to go back to school. I had always liked school so that didn't bother me, it was the fact that I was starting a new school with no friends and not knowing anybody that bothered me. On my first day of school Momma walked me in, signed me up, and off to Mrs. Shelley's I went. So many memories come out of that room and that first year, but I don't have the time to talk about all of that. So I will stick with one memory. Which is my best friend growing up...Rachel.

Rachel, Mo and I. Freshman Year/Christmas- 2004. Clearly, you can tell which of us stayed a tomboy the longest. (Me and then Rachel, Mo got "fancy" before us).

Rachel and I met in third grade, my first day at school and were pretty much inseparable for years. Chris used to tell us we were the perfect friends, because we were each others exact opposites, but still so similar. I never used to get that, but I do now. She used to say it was because we complimented each other, her being blonde and me brunette. We used to laugh about that one. Even when I was fifteen and moved to Alabama and then Florida, her and I kept in touch through letters and phone calls. Mostly letters though, we're "old school".

Rachel and I met because there was a little boy in my class that shall remain nameless You know who you are! that made it a habit to constantly pull my pigtails. Everyday. His brother and cousins would laugh while he messed with me and I took it for a good while. I've never liked to fight unless I absolutely had too. But one day I got tired of it, and when he grabbed my pigtail I turned around in my desk, grabbed ahold of his ears and to the floor we went. He screamed and kicked and waved his arms around like a crazy fool. I just kept ahold of his ears twisting. His brother and two cousins tried to pull me off of him, but I ended up kicking one of them in the...well you know where, and the other in the knee. Rachel got out of her desk at this time, kicked the third boy, and then re-kicked the one that I got in the knee and helped me up.

Of course we all got sent to the Principal's office where the boys started singing like canaries, blaming me and Rachel for everything. Go figure. When it was our turn to tell the story, we looked at each other, smirked and looked back at the Principal. We refused to say anything, because we knew whoever talked first would automatically get the other in more trouble. So we stayed quiet.

One paddling, two hundred fifty "I will not fight with little boys, because I'm a lady" sentences, and a revenge water balloon fight later, we remained friends. Even to this day. I used to spend the night at Rachel's Momma's house every other weekend and we would have so much fun. We got into some scrapes, mostly because Rachel was a bit wild, but we always had each others backs. I would defend her regardless, and she would me too. We laughed, protected each other, cried, and grew up together. When I moved back after two and a half years, the first thing I did was go to school to enroll for the last half of my Senior year. Rachel heard me and came running down the hallway. She grabbed a hold of me, picked me up, and swung me around like I was an ole rag doll.

We went through alot together from Childhood to Divorce. Divorce to boys. Boys to drinking. Drinking to drugs. Drugs to jail. Jail to kids. Kids to starting over. We both didn't go through all of that separately, they just happen to be everything in the mixture between the two of us. We don't get to talk much anymore, ever since I moved up here, and Rachel has things going on. She had two little girls now and a slew of crazy ex-boyfriends to deal with. But whenever we see each other it's exactly the same as it used to be. I guess that's what happens when you come from a "Sandbox Friendship".

And of course in true Childhood Friendship Tradition, we have secrets and private jokes that will forever remain between us. "It's too late for all that", "We're gonna get you", Ramen Noodles and Captain Crunch, Rachel's 14th birthday party in the field across from Mattey's, when "Dean" pulled up in the truck with the other guys that night, "wrecking the van", and of course, "We were playing hide and go seek in the dark and she tripped over a BIG stump and fell on a BIG rock". I know it all sounds weird, but trust me she'd get it.