23 January 2008

walls of love

me and allison in the cast of Pippin circa 1998


this past weekend i visited a childhood friend's home which has (and always has had) one of my favorite things ever: a wall full of picture frames of her and her siblings and her parents throughout the years. i love walls like these, where you can truly get a glimpse of the togetherness, the happy moments, the proud achievements, those who have gone before. i want a wall like this someday. the charming thing about allison's wall is that all the photos aren't taken by professionals. some are on river rafting trips, some are snapshots of them playing in front of their house, some are at beautiful bridal shoots, on proud graduation days, to the magical black & white silhouettes done at Disneyland. the dear photos are held in mismatched frames of all shapes and sizes, with one common theme: family.

i liked showing dan all the pictures of my friends' family and saying, 'yeah, this picture (pointing to one of allison, age nine with bows in her hair and big fluffy bangs) is how i will always picture alli.'

your childhood friends somehow cement in your mind at the time you two were sitting under the slide, hanging on the monkey bars, or chatting on the curb at recess. i can always remember my chalky hands after playing in the gravel outside. she and i grew up together and i have memories of being twelve at girls camp or going to the mall at fifteen, slumber parties and painting our nails, and jumping up and down once we found out we both made it in the musical Grease in high school. all these things are cemented in my life. but for whatever reason, allison at age nine is what sticks.

back then life was so simple and we didn't even realize it. we didn't know time would fly so fast. we did not know that circumstances could someday pull us apart. we couldn't picture how else to spend a saturday other than walking to Arctic Circle for a corndog, playing barbies and making up dances in spandex. we didn't know what it feels like to grow up and be grown ups. we didn't know that our secret code names wouldn't last forever. or that we would forget our important handshake. we didn't know that fifth grade really wasn't that hard and mrs. roberts wasn't that terrible. we didn't even realize that thirty wasn't that old. we didn't know what things were to come. we didn't know that people close to us could pass away. we didn't know how that felt yet. we didn't know what it meant to be so devastated that all you can feel is helpless. and all you can do is hug. we didn't know how it felt to be hurt or sad or madly in love. we didn't know how important our memories would be. we didn't realize how important our friendship would be either. we were just two girls playing. every day, at one house or the other.

i told dan when we drove home from her house on sunday evening that i will always and forever be tied to her, no matter what. because of the things we've been through together. because i've seen her grow up and i know we know each other so well. what would life be without friendships as thick as cement?

she is another of my beloved paperdolls that i cling to.

13 comments:

alyson. said...

I love this post.

I have a friend, just like that, who I will always be attached to. I've known her since kindergarten, and we went to high school together, and college. that's twenty years!

karla said...

You always have the perfect words!

{natalie} said...

that's me and jenn d. buddies since the 3rd grade. love it

Travelin'Oma said...

The Pippin picture is perfect. I will always remember the two of your laughing at each other. You made our whole house happy!

allison said...

you are a constant genuine inspiration.

blaze+storm=forever

Jake said...

so sweet.

i just read your plagarism post. horrifying! where is it...i want to link to it and warn the rest of blogworld...

Who Sees the Seven... said...

Beautifully and perfectly put, I also believe that the wonderful quality of childhood is all of the "didn't knows" that you listed. This post makes me want to write a letter to my oldest friend and rehash the good memories from growing up. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

That's so beautiful Marta!
I live away from all my friends and gash how much I miss them! Each email to them comes out like a love letter... but it's so good to have them and to have where to send all those letters or tell all those words

natalie palmer said...

i sort of got emotional reading your post. that is all so.. so true. i may have missed the barbie playing that the corn dogs at artic circle but i'll just forever blessed that i found you and allie eventually.

melissa deakin said...

your words are like magic, marta.
childhood girlfriends are treasures.
:)

love.boxes said...

Old friends are the best. :) Love that photo.

Anonymous said...

I just stumbled onto your site and read this post. It's beautiful. I hope that one day when I start my own family, we'll be able to have these sort of memories.

all over the map said...

what a wonderful tribute to friendship and life itself. love that!
i've got some catching up to do over here. i just love browsing through your posts.
my fifth grade teacher was named Mrs.Roberts as well; only she was wonderful. a favorite i will never forget.

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