Porthole

First Friends

Do you remember your first friend? Under what circumstances did you become friends? Are you still in contact with them or any of your other childhood friends?

I didn't have friends. I had a sister! And she was younger and bigger than I was.

I was painfully shy but I grew up in a neighborhood of kids my own age. As a factory town where people owned homes instead of rented them, families didn't move much. So... Micky (Michelle) and Micky (Michael), Mary and Kim, Judy and her older sisters Jean and Joan and dog Queenie, Donna and Dennis, Christine, Nancy... You get the idea! We knew each other well.

I read Judy's hand-me-down books (a godsend) and colored with Micky's big box of crayons (how I learned my colors). In return many joined me playing in my 'town' in the mud with a few cars, weeds as trees and blocks of wood as houses.

We also played games. I still remember when Marlene beat us all at a game of hearts. She wasn't the brightest among us at that time. And I remember it was in the driveway under our kitchen window.

Other than the kids on our block, my mother tried to choose my friends. She didn't approve of the rough working class. Her father was an artist and artisan. She seems to have inherited a bit of snobbery. Later, when the BBC came out with "Keeping Up Appearances" Hyacinth reminded me of my mother. My father was laid back but working long hours. I couldn't see without my glasses so sports was not an option either.

When kids grew up into teenagers the whole situation changed as folks moved away or everyone found new friends. I felt very isolated.

I believe that the only one I'm still in contact with is Marlene. She looks ab-fab and lives in Florida.

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