#52Stories Week 6 Childhood Friends

Here's the next question in the #52Stories project:

Who was your first best friend? Are you still in contact with each other?

I had lots of best friends when I was a kid. My first best friend was Ethan Schulz. Our parents were best friends with Ethan's parents, Mark and Elaine, and so naturally their kids had to be too! The lived just down the street from us and Ethan and I had so much fun together. I can still see my little four-year-old self running over to his house. Ethan's brother Robert was a year older than us and with him, Jessica, Ethan, and I, we came up with all sorts of imaginative ways to play. My funniest memory of Ethan is when the four of us were up at the high school track because our moms were walking the track for exercise. It was hot and they were taking forever. Of course being kids I'm sure the time was much shorter than it seemed but we were certain we'd been there forever and we were so thirsty we thought we were going to die. :) Finally, Ethan thought he could handle it no longer so he found a puddle in the parking lot and drank from it! How he really didn't die is beyond me!

Me and Ethan at 8th Grade Promotion

Sadly, Ethan's dad got cancer when we were in 6th grade and ended up dying from it on Mother's Day. It was such a sad thing and very hard to see our friends have to go through it. After that my parents' friendship dwindled. My dad didn't have Mark anymore and we all just grew apart. Ethan made some bad friend choices and ended up on drugs. His mom sent him away to a recovery program which saved his life, no doubt. He's doing very well now. He's a chef at a fancy restaurant and has a wife and two adorable little girls. Sadly, I don't keep in contact with him but I am in regular contact with his mom so I follow him that way. :)

My next best friend was a girl named Sari Hulet. We met the summer before third grade. She lived three houses down from us. When they were building the new stake center down the street from our house, Sari's mom invited our family to walk through it with them. When we were there Sari and I broke off from the group to explore the "dark, scary" part by ourselves. We gripped hands and thought it was so fun to be scared. After that we were inseparable. We played together all the time, had sleepovers, and walked to and from school together. I loved her! We would laugh so hard we'd start snorting, which of course made us laugh more. She was a great friend. One time Sari told me she was worried about her dad because he smoked cigarettes. She didn't want him to harm his health and so we snuck the cigarettes out of his pocket, took them to an empty lot in the neighborhood, and buried them. I'm sure her dad was mad when he found out!

Me and Sari at the Grand Canyon

The summer before 5th grade Sari and her cousin Melody were crossing a street in Flagstaff and were struck by an oncoming car. Melody broke her pelvis and Sari received a very bad head injury as her head hit the windshield. I was visiting my Aunt Julie when I found out. I remember curling up on my mom's lap and sobbing. I visited Sari as often as I could while she was in the hospital. She was in a coma for a while and then took a long time to relearn things and regain her memories. She never forgot who I was though. She would often ask for me and liked to call me on the phone. It was a hard thing for a 10 year old to go through but I loved Sari so I had to be brave. She eventually recovered and she and I got to be in the same 5th grade class. We had a great time but I found her personality to be altered and she wasn't quite the same as she used to be.

Sari moved to Colorado after 5th grade. I got to stay with her for a couple of weeks. We had fun but we fought a lot, something we had never done before. Sari and I wrote back and forth and she would come visit when she was in town but we mostly lost contact with each other. Her family moved a lot and after a while I didn't know where to send letters. The last time I talked to Sari was about a month before my wedding. It was so good to visit with her. I would like to still be in contact with her but when I asked her mom about it on facebook she said, "Sari prefers to live a private life." and she didn't respond after that. I was sad. I know she's married and has at least one child but other than that I don't know. I wish I did.  :(

In middle school I had a new best friend each year. Heather Ott, then Amanda Nicksic, then Lisa Andrus. I loved all of them and remained friends with all of them through high school. I keep in contact with Amanda a little on facebook. Lisa, I hear about from time to time because my mom is friends with her mom, and I still talk to Heather on the phone occasionally.

I had a couple of best friends in high school, Laura Blankenship and then Heidi Roberson. Laura became my "frienemy" because we got into a fight over a boy. We made amends after high school and kept in contact quite regularly. Then one day she disappeared. She either left facebook or she unfriended me. Either way I have no idea what she's up to. Heidi Roberson lives up in WA, ironically, with her long time boyfriend. I hope she's doing well but I don't have regular contact with her either.

As an adult I've decided that good friends are better than best friends. Best friends are too much work. Nathan is now and will forever be my only best friend and that's the way I like it. :)