A laughing trio of little girls came dancing their way back into my mind tonight – little girls of yesteryear with their hair all braided, curled, and barretted, and their imaginations bigger than the big blue sky. Silly little girls we may have been, but the best of friends we were, and nothing was going to stop us from having the most fun we possibly could. Oh, we tormented the lives out of those poor Grace Baptist boys – giggling over our “secret crushes,” and inserting them merrily and frequently into our games of “Who/What/Where/When” … and most likely, there was no bigger tease than I! Sadly, I was such a glutton for attention – although it’s rather comical looking back at it now … at that freckle-faced little girl with the two long braids who insisted on wearing dresses every day of the year … or Puritan outfits or poodle skirts! How people must have laughed at me – but I didn’t care. Nor should I have – for those days were the best of my life.

Natasha, Kelsey, and I were devoted and firm “Huntington Sisters” – me, breathing life into the outlandish tales of our supposed “other life,” and us all gloriously pretending them out. Neither were we opposed to imagining that we were the greatest children detectives that ever lived, and that our secret agent society could solve all the problems in our small town. We would derive drama from passing people in their front yards or by sitting in the park, “gossiping” about people passing by that we didn’t know in the least. When this eventually ceased to entertain, the next best thing was to “explore” the McConnell Mansion, which had been turned into a museum, and which we knew inside and out, we had been there so many times. Completing the treasure hunt multiple times rewarded us with various trinkets – our favorites being the styrofoam birds which you could put together and actually fly! 🙂 Next, we would go to the library closeby – another favorite haunt, every nook and cranny memorized – and stock up on more books to fuel our never-ending supply of adventures.

Lemonade stands which did excessively well; tent sleepovers in my backyard; New Years’ Eve parties at the Sebens’ house; swimming in the Tenneys’ pool; watching scads of movies at their house, or playing games there, dressing up, building forts, riding our bikes until it got dark, making American Girl plays on the computer, and taking our Bitty Baby dolls to the park … being in Melody Makers at church; playing Tic-Tac-Toe and doing our “Daily Digs” during the sermon :O; playing game after game after game after church – both morning and evening and during business meetings; church picnics during the summer at various families’ houses; church potlucks the last Sunday of every month (the designated “boys room” and “girls room” for eating in!); singing songs before Sunday School, and the Sunday I switched the boys side and the girls side! :D; Missionary Explorers with Kristi; forcing Chrissy Sapp and Breanna Wilder to be my “little sisters”; “Kid’s Corner” and the Sunday that Tasha and I got handcuffed together; AWANA … and the Olympics which we won 3 years in a row (3-legged race all the way, baby!), and the Bible Quiz which was MY favorite …

It was such a blissful childhood, and one I remember well and vividly. I had such an innocent, straightforward view of the world, and I never gave much thought to the future, beyond what I planned to do next week with my friends. And God certainly blessed me with the best of friends in that time of my life – friends I could laugh with and play with – be “little girls” with – dress up with, listen to Odyssey and Patch the Pirate with, love life with … I hope my children someday will be blessed to have such friends – who will love them unconditionally, stimulate their imaginations, and bring the meaning of fun and joy into their lives, just like my Tasha and Kelsey did for me. And who knows? They just might end up with a lifelong friend like me … who still enjoys sharing with me the pretty things of childhood once in a while. 🙂