Mere-Dee-Belle

Think back to childhood.  Like 8 years old.  Did you have a best friend?  I most definitely did.

The details are foggy as to how or when we met.  But I do know one thing:  Meredith Powers was my partner in crime.  She lived right across the street on Silacci Drive.  As Foxy shooed me outside to "Go and PLAY!" on a daily basis, Mere was my sanctuary.  I learned that if I treaded lightly with my bare feet on the white paint of the cross walk in the street,  I could escape the burning heat of the 100 degree cement in the summer time, as I traveled to her house.

Meredith was the eldest of 2 girls.  We called her little sister, Bun, although her real name was Stephanie.  Mr. and Mrs. Powers seemed waaay younger than my parents, worked, and kept a very neat and tidy home.  I felt as though I needed to be on my best behavior at their house.

Meredith and I did EVERYthing together.  Many afternoons you could find us roller skating to our heart's content, riding our bikes around our neighborhood, or catching frogs in the creek.  One year, we actually caught polliwogs, put them in a tank, and then watched them transform into frogs.  I do believe it was my older brother, Paul, who gave Mere the nickname of Mere-dee-belle.

We plucked California Poppies, which as everyone knows, is BREAKING THE LAW, so that we could make "perfume" by adding water to the petals in a big bucket.  Meredith and I climbed to the tip top of the pine trees that surrounded our home, never once giving a thought that if we fell, our lives would end abruptly.  There's no time for thoughts like those when you're the ripe age of 10!  Covered in sap, we would go home exhausted, and sleep soundly.

As we got a bit older, we were allowed to walk to Taco Bell to grab lunch.  Or go to Westgate Mall to buy stickers for our sticker book collections.  That was right around the time that Baskin Robbins let you taste ice cream on a little bitty spoon before you chose which flavor you wanted.  We would often make the poor teenager working behind the counter, let us sample all 31 flavors, before walking out and not purchasing a thing.

My best friend and I would hang at El Paseo and catch a show at Saratoga Six ...this was long before AMC.  And I can fondly recall a few times when after watching the movie, we found ourselves at Swenson's.  Do you remember "The Earthquake"?  It was like 12 scoops of ice cream, covered in like 5 sauces of your choice, sprinkled with any toppings you wanted.  And Meredith and I ate it...all of it.

I fondly remember passing time at Mere's house watching "Growing Pains", (Kirk Cameron...swoon), "Three's Company", and "Bosom Buddies".  There was Hide-N-Seek to be played on warm summer nights, with the Bible thumping neighbor kids, The Gregg's.  I can remember times, when I would literally pee my pants as I was hiding.  I mean, to come out and use the bathroom meant surrender.  And clearly, it is better to wet yourself, than succumb to being found.

Meredith and I  had grand plans of having a double wedding, and living, you guessed it:  right across the street from each other so that our kids could play, much the same way we had.  Of course, our husbands, we would be best buds.

Mere and I were inseparable.  However, because she was a year my senior, she started 7th grade at Rolling Hills, while I was still at Forest Hills, in 6th grade.  She was like Jacques Cousteau, navigating the un-charted territory of Junior High.  By the time I got there, I felt secure, knowing that my bestie was an upper classman.

As we made our way through Westmont High School, Meredith and I remained good friends.  But we lost touch in college.  Through our parents, who still lived in the SAME houses, we were able to keep tabs on one another.

After we both married, I stayed local, while Mere moved away to raise her family in Texas, and then Georgia.  We would get our broods together when she came home over summer break to visit her folks.  And it was clear:  our kids got along very well.  Even if they saw each other briefly, and just once a year, it as the sweetest thing to watch our clans grow larger from summer to summer.  We currently have 7 girls and 1 boy between the two of us.

Just recently, Meredith shared with me that she was moving back to California.  To our hood.  I couldn't believe it.  It was just too good to be true!

Reader's Diges version:  she is living in the Glen, THREE blocks away from me!  The first night she and her hubby were here, I just kept saying to Tom over and over, "I just can't believe it.  She's so close.  I mean, this is something we manifested when we were TEN years old."

I picked up her girls on Friday, so she and hubs could unload their PODS parked on the street.  As I watched her girls walk home with mine, I was overcome with this feeling of incredible gratitude.  Big girls walking home with backpacks, while Crepe Myrtles bloomed on their path, their pony tails swaying from side to side.  My best friend's kids from childhood are walking home with my kids!!

This is totally surreal.  This can't be happening.  But it is.

I can not wait to teach the girls how to break the law, and make California Poppy perfume.