Some things change...some things stay the same

My dear friend Katrina is the friend I've had the longest...since Kindergarten. She's the first friend whose house I hung out at...almost non-stop. Her parents would call us "space cadets" cuz we would "go into orbit" and find various things to occupy ourselves with inside and outside her house ALL DAY LONG!

This is the friend with whom I played barbies, house and learned to play monopoly for the first time. We would pretend her swingset was a jungle in which we would swing from branch to branch. "Don't let go or else the crocodiles in the swamp down below will eat you!" Or somedays it was a ship sailing on the high seas. There were countless nights I would spend the night and we'd be up giggling until we got in trouble. I can still remember the way the moon would shine through the sheer drapes at her window. I can still see the way Katrina would sleep...with the covers up around her ears cuz she was throughly convinced this would protect her from the boogyman.

We would also pretend that we were roommates in College who were dating and would eventually marry two guys who were also roommates. And most of this little scenario actually came true. We did become roommates at college in Utah (and yes, she still sleeps with those covers around her ears! Hee hee!) and one night we even went out on a double date with our then fiances (who were not roommates. I know, way to ruin the story!). I remember turning around in the passenger's seat and saying to Katrina, "Look! We used to pretend this very thing!" Imagination or did we already know our own destinies at 6 years of age? Maybe both...

Living far apart we have managed to keep in touch mostly once a year through Christmas cards, but recently I kept trying to remember a poem her mother had in a framed cross stitch hanging in their hallway in that house I spent most of my lower-grade years in. I could only remember the last couple lines and I wanted so desperately to remember the whole thing because it has had an impact on me ever since and with the birth of my 3rd child, now more than ever I feel the need to enjoy every second of Ari as a baby. It is so evident to me now how fast kids really grow.

So as we have tried to keep in better touch with one another she was able to give me the whole poem. She says she receits it to herself daily and now that I have it I will to. It comes in handy when your sink is full of dishes!

Cleaning and scrubing
can wait til tomorrow
For babies grow up
we've learned to our sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs
Dust go to sleep
I'm rocking my baby
and babies don't keep

Katrina says her mom, after all these years and several moves, still has it hanging in one of her hallways. I love that! That feeling of consistency in an ever-changing world...something from childhood that you find out is still the same today. It's like the prize that still comes in the Cracker Jack box. :)

Britten