My best friend from First Grade

This is such a great story. My family moved around a lot when I was a kid. We moved from Stockton, to Modesto, Visalia, Fresno (had two houses there) then to Milpitas by the time I was 8. My sister and I were pretty accustomed to going to new schools and making new friends.

In January 1976, we moved to our first house in Fresno, on Prospect Ave. We went to school at Fig Garden Elementary. Believe it or not, we actually walked through the fig orchards to get to school! (that sounds so "Little House on the Prairie" to me now) I was in first grade at the time. It was then that I met my first "best friend".

Terri was in my class, and lived down the street with me. I can remember being in school with Terri just a little bit: I remember writing and reciting a report about "The Bald Eagle" and how Terri told me how proud of me she was. :) I also remember her singing me Happy Birthday when I turned 6.

Here's a picture that I took during a field trip to the Fresno Zoo when we were in first grade. There's Terri in the background - she's the cute little blond girl waving at the camera. There's my Mom - who chaperoned that day - she's on the left side.

Terri and I became fast best friends. I have so many fond memories of playing with her during our summer break. Terri was (and still is) a movie fanatic! she used to write scripts for us to act out. (yes, we were only 6 years old!) I also remember that she was a huge fan of "The Six Million Dollar Man" - she wrote a script where she insisted that I play Oscar (was Gorman his last name? Random Trivia). Wasn't he the boss, or something like that?

Terri was my very first business partner! We opened my first and only lemonade stand that summer - Actually, we sold Kool-Aid. We made signs, and posted them all throughout the block. I think we made some $$, but honestly, I don't remember that part.

Terri has wonderful parents - I remember that they were always so kind to me. She also had an older brother, Christopher who has downs syndrome. It's interesting looking back at this. Now I know what an amazing gift and lesson Terri's family taught me at such an early age. Chris was the first person I can remember meeting with any kind of physical or mental disabilities. I don't remember thinking anything of his disabilities at the time - which I think says so much for Terri and her family. I just thought of him as Terri's older brother, who had some special needs.

Sadly, Terri and her family moved at the end of the summer. They moved a few hours away to Fair Oaks, near Sacramento. (which, to a kid, seems a world away) I remember being very sad that my best friend was moving away.

Here's the amazing part: Terri and I managed to stay in touch by becoming pen pals. Think about that: 2 6-year olds writing letters to stay in touch. Think about it: snail mail. That's right... no email, no instant messenger, we didn't' even call each other because long-distance phone calls were too expensive back then.

So, we wrote, and wrote and wrote... all throughout our childhood, and into adulthood. We both had strange fascination with SciFi (Battlestar Gallactica and Star Wars). Sometimes, we sent cassette tapes to each other of the other talking, or playing the latest piano song we just learned.

Terri and her family came back to visit Fresno once that I can remember. I think we were in second or third grade. Here's a pictures of us in my family's backyard with my sister, Tiffini.

The next time Terri and I saw each other again was in 1985 - we were both sophomores in High School. My parents have a time-share condo up in Tahoe, and we invited Terri to come up with us for the week. Mind you, I'm sure Terri and I were both a little nervous, since we hadn't seen each other for such a long time. Luckily, we got along really well, and rediscovered our friendship! I think we both made trips to visit each other that summer. Come to think of it, that was the summer that we filmed "Star Wars" using Terri's High-8 camera, and all of my Star Wars action figures, ships, playsets, and "The Story of Star Wars Soundtrack". Really. it's a hoot. Someday, I'll have to get a copy of this from Terri.

In 1987, we both graduated from high school. Eventually, Terri moved to San Francisco to go to State, and I moved to the mid-west for color guard.

The next time we saw each other was in 1994 at Terri's Wedding!!!! Can you believe it? My best friend from first grade was getting married!! She was so sweet to invite my entire family, too. Here's a great picture that she sent me from her wedding! Note: I had just finished teaching 2 weeks of band camp (outdoors). That would explain why I'm unusually dark.

Terri is married to a great guy named Derek. They met while in film school at San Francisco State. My favorite part of their wedding was the "Star Wars Theme". They sent out Star Wars-style trading cards with their wedding invitations - collect them all! it was so clever. each one had a different picture of them standing in front of an important landmark in their relationship - the hospital where they were born, where they had their first date (which I believe was Mel's Drive-In), etc. Really cute.

Terri and Derek live down in Burbank now. They have a beautiful little boy named Deacon. I've managed to make it down a few times over the last few years to visit with them, although I haven't had the pleasure of meeting Deacon yet.

anyway, I'm writing all of this because Terri and I just exchanged emails yesterday. Whenever we see each other, we always marvel at how we managed to stay in touch over all of these years - especially since we were so young.

What a wonderful and special friendship we have. Thanks, Terri!!!