Of all the friendship stories that I have, this one is one of the most important and cherished to me.
I wrote this blog post about Terri and our friendship way back in 2004. It sums up our now 38 year old friendship, and has some neat photos. I'm going to paraphrase again here, just because it's so special...
Terri and I met in January of 1976. My family had just moved from Visalia to Fresno, and I started the first grade mid-year. She would have just turned 7 at the beginning of the month, and I was only 5 years old, until my 6th birthday in April. (I started Kindergarten early at 4 years old.) I don't remember the exact day that we became friends, but it always seemed like we were the best of friends. My family moved around a lot when I was young, and Terri is the first "best friend" that I ever had.
I have wonderful memories of our friendship within the next few months. We lived within a block of each other, and would go play at each other's houses frequently. We had a Kool-Aid stand together, and we performed "Six Million Dollar Man" skits, where I played Oscar Goldman. Terri was always a big film/movie buff and would shoot films with her Super 8 camera! She later went to Film School!
This is a photo I have of a field trip we took in first grade. My Mom is on the left side of the photo, and Terri is near her in the back. She's the cute little blonde girl waving to me!
Sadly, Terri's family moved to the Sacramento area at the end of the Summer. As an adult, looking back at this, I'm simply amazed at what happened next: we became pen pals, and wrote each other letters for the next several years, into Adulthood! I find this incredible, given how young we were, but we were persistent. We wrote each other frequently - I'm guessing once or twice a month. We also sent each other audio cassettes of ourselves playing piano, or just talking into the microphone. This went on for years and years as we each grew, went through elementary school, junior high and high school.
We saw each other only twice during this time. Terri's family came back to Fresno once the Summer after Second Grade. We took this really cute photo with my sister in our back yard.
Terri, Trina and Tiffini, Summer of 1977
When we were sophomores in High School, we finally saw each other again. My family took a vacation to Lake Tahoe in the Spring of 1984. It would have been about 7 years since we had seen each other - which at that age, is a REALLY long time. We hit it off again immediately, and had a wonderful time together!
I think it was either that same summer, or the following summer that Terri came out to Milpitas to visit for a week. It was during that time that we filmed a 3 minute Star Wars movie using my Star Wars action figures, playsets, and the audio from "The Story of Star Wars" album! Terri still has this film which we watched several years ago, and it's simply hysterical. She's hoping to digitize it someday so we can watch it again.
After High School, Terri moved to San Francisco to attend San Francisco State's Film program. I went off for all of my color guard adventures. We still wrote letters, and stayed in touch.
The next time we saw each other in person was at Terri's beautiful wedding to her wonderful husband, Derek in September of 1994. My family and I were so honored to be invited to their wedding, and it was SO wonderful to see them again.
Trina and Terri, 1994
As adults, we didn't stay in touch quite as well as when we were kids. We still sent an occasional letter, then emails, and certainly annual Christmas Cards and special news about our lives and our families. During our mid-twenties to mid-thirties, I came down to Burbank to visit Terri and Derek at least a couple of times. It was right before they had their two kids.
In 2005, Terri and Derek made the trek to San Francisco to attend my wedding to Dick. Unfortunately, I don't have a great photo of Terri and I from the wedding (shame on me) but I do have this really nice photo of Terri and Derek!
Terri and Derek at our Wedding, 2005
...and here's a nice photo that Terri and I took together the day after our wedding:
Terri and Trina, 2005!
I'm embarrassed to say that until today, we hadn't seen each other since our wedding in 2005. Terri and Derek's two kids are now 9 and 11, and I had not met not yet met them. (although I stay up to date on Terri and her family via her blog)
I planned to spend two solid days with Terri and her family while I'm here in Burbank this week. This visit was VERY important to me, as I've been long overdue for a visit with Terri for several years. We had a most wonderful day of spending time in her home, having lunch, picking the kids up from school, hanging out at home some more, and eating Chinese Take-Out! It was a perfect day with my dear, dear friend, who means so much to me.
...and tomorrow, we get to do it all again! We're making up for lost time!
Thank you, Terri, for the most wonderful day together. I cherish our friendship and your family, and it makes me so happy to spend time with you. xoxo
Terri and Trina, 2013!
Terri on "gate control" at the end of the school day
Terri and Derek and their kids, Maren & Deacon
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