She's a year older than me. Living in California, she was 2 grades ahead of me. She's 9 inches taller than me. Before she was that much taller than me, I would get boxes of her hand me downs. I LOVED her hand me downs, especially the dresses. Summers meant time spent together. It wasn't always sunshine and happiness however. Oh no.......at times we got along about as well as fire and ice and our personalities meshed together as easily as oil and water. Even from our early days....I was always wanting to kiss her and she wanted no part of that!
Summers meant that either I would go and spend a couple weeks at her house, or she would come and stay at my house. I can remember our times together so vividly!! Time together meant going to the beach, going to swimming lessons, playing in the greenbelt, swimming at the neighborhood pool, playing Airborne on my uncle's computer, sticker book organizing and collecting, cleaning up messy rooms, looking through her enormous high school yearbooks, trips to Disneyland,
Magic Mountain, The San Diego Zoo,
Sea World,
and Knott's Berry Farm, arguing, hurting each other's feelings....you see, she was what I'll call 'the rebel'-never afraid to speak her mind, while I was what I'll call 'goodie two shoes'-always afraid I'd say something to tick her off!, late night chats, getting over being mad at each other,
jamming to radio tunes and making tapes of songs we liked!
A few of our favorite tunes.......Secrets, If You Leave (from Pretty in Pink), Dreaming and Forever Live and Die, all by OMD......I Think We're Alone Now by Tiffany. Depeche Mode songs were good too! I love Itunes.......it brought back a link from the past that I will forever treasure.
Julie, you are so much a part of my childhood memories. The good times, the bad times, the knocking heads so hard we saw stars that time we were dancing in Nicki's room time (which I do believe you blamed on me :-)! ).....I wish our kids could have the same type of experiences. Thank you cuz'...I love you!
3 comments:
Aww, that was so sweet! I remember our summers too. I always looked forward to seeing my "cuz" again. And the letters we wrote back and forth! Remember the first year I came out to New Mexico, back when you lived on Indian School? My parents surprised me by letting me stay an extra week by myself. We went to Circle K and ate too much candy ... had afternoons at a day camp near your house ... I remember your mom worked at a bookstore and always had beautiful stickers for us. (One of my favorite childhood books is a red book of fairy tales she gave me in 1980, and the inside covers are littered with stickers of fairies.)
Every summer for the next several years, you'd come to California or we'd travel out there. Remember the year we went to the lake and our parents went waterskiing? You and I shared a room with bunk beds. I remember playing a game where we tried to make each other laugh ... you won and I remember what you did, but I'm not saying it here! ;-) And remember the big storm on the way back? I don't think I've ever seen so much lightning since then. We were in the back of your parents' green Audi, huddled under towels for some reason. Were we cold? Scared? The trip back to your house seemed to take forever.
I remember other things, too. Yes, getting in fights and making up again. We had a really bad one at the beach (the same trip as the one with me with that LOVELY bleached hair?), but I don't remember what it was about. And I remember some guy named Bill was crazy about you and sent you flowers ... what ever happened to him?
It's so funny that you thought of me as your cool older cousin, because I thought of myself as a big, gawky dork! You were the petite, pretty one, with cute clothes and good grades. You played the clarinet, and you were always doing stuff for school.
I love the pictures of you and me at Grandma and Grandpa's house in Big Bear. You are tiny and cute with your long dress and pinafore, and I'm wearing something like a T-shirt and jeans. (Hmm, that's also what I'm wearing now.) There's another pic of you looking up at me, probably trying for one of those infamous kisses. Do you have that one? I'd like to see it again. :-)
Thanks for the memories, Care Bear. I love you.
Hi Barry Family! Wow! I can't believe how much Laurel looks you when you were little Cari! You guys are probably on your way to Utah by now, but I wanted to say "Hi" and hope you guys have fun on your latest adventure! Hugs from us all! Janet
I loved this post and your cousin's comment back! What precious cousins. Thanks for letting the rest of us in on your cool relationship. I'm so happy you had each other.
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