Storage Room

Living in a small town has a lot of cons to some people. I look at living in a small town a pro not a con. Everybody knows each other and everyone on some level watches out for each other. I was a child in the 60's and a teenager in the 70's. I also got married in the late 70's. My family and friends are very important to me and close. A tight knit crew. My friend Gina and I have known each other since we were toddlers in the church nursery. We went to the same church the same school and our families knew each other. She is truly one of my dearest friends. As little girls we used to stay at each other's houses often. We were always together at school and did a lot of things together. We were both into writing in our journals, we documented everything that happened. We both loved little dolls and we had so many we finally put a few away in a box and we wrapped it in paper. We both wrote a note to each other and put it in the box too. We cut the middle of our hands so there was blood and pressed our hands together making us blood sisters. As we grew we both were attracted to boys and them to us, of course in fourth grade we all changed boyfriends about once a week or so. We liked to ride bikes and go swimming in a neighbors pond. We would take our bikes and head to what we called the swimming hole. We would take snacks and drinks and even then we both loved to listen to music and sing along sometimes. We both still love music. Gina is a bit more into Country music but I am all Rock and Roll. The older we got moving into middle school we were both cheerleaders together. We called each other each night to make sure we were both caught up on all the gossip. One of us might have missed something at school. A normal conversation might be I can't believe that our friend Todd ate the teacher's goldfish in math class today. She would say it almost made me sick and I just said Todd is nuts but we still cared about him. We had several characters in our grade. To this day we both keep up with classmates from school. I try to keep in touch as much as I can with life being the way it is, busy. This year Gina and I got to meet two other girls, well ladies now, old ladies I might add that we went to school with. Our one friend has a house boat and the four of us met up and went to Arkansas to hang on the boat for the weekend. We brought games to play and a few movies but never had time for that. From the moment we got there until the moment we left we all talked non-stop. We would fix out breakfast in the morning and eat breakfast out on the dock by the boat. Cups of Coffee were had each morning. We would all get fixed up to go out and eat lunch and do some shopping. We would get food while we were out for dinner in the evenings. We always had music going but no TV or no game play just talking. We all have known each other since first grade so there were many past things and present things to talk about. We just had a great time. It was a get away I needed so bad. Months before out trip to Arkansas my husband had undergone a double lung transplant and Gina and her husband were there to help us when he got out of the hospital. They took me grocery shopping and were always checking on us. We had to stay in the big city in an apartment for months before we could come home. This trip was what I needed to get myself back on course. We decided that we would get together at least once a year from now on. Since we are all now in our 60's we move a bit slower than we used to but we all can talk a blue streak, me most of all. I just have too many words. My mind never stops. One day this week I was cleaning my storage building and I saw this box wrapped in paper, I wondered what it was. I for some reason had not seen this box in many years. I really didn't know what was inside it so I opened it and began to cry. It was our box, the one Gina and I had put things in to keep. It had a little blood on the top of the box. I thought how strange it had been in storage for years many many years and now I had found it. My first thought was to get on the phone and call Gina but then I decided not to call, wait until all of us get together again and take the box with me. It will be a great surprise for Gina.