Flashback Friday

For FF I thought I would share a very old picture of me when I was a kid. This picture was taken in probably 1977. I think I was about 3 yrs old. Maybe 4, so it could've been '78. But, it must have been shortly after we moved to Royal Center. These were all kids that I grew up with. They all went to our church and to the only school in town, Pioneer. I was friends with pretty much all of them up through high school. Many of which I reconnected with on Facebook since then. Not sure what the person was thinking when they took this picture. They cut off half the people, opting instead to make sure the lovely lamp made it in. But, starting in the back on the left was a girl named KiKi, then Ann Barker, Pam Calloway, and Jill Funk on the top row. Next row was Jeff Funk (not related to Jill), Amy Martin, and ME. :-) Bottom row was Obie Martin (Amy's bro), Tom Adams, and my brother Micah. Kiki didn't live in RC long. They moved a couple years later, but I remember hearing about her in high school. She was killed when the car she was in was hit by a train. I believe it was on prom night and everything. Very sad. Ann ended up being a very popular cheerleader and dad married her several years ago. She still sends them a Christmas letter every year. Pam was a good friend of mine until we lost touch a few years ago. After having Madie and Noah, my phone calling became less frequent and next thing I knew years had gone by. So is the story for many of my friends sadly. Jill and I reconnected on FB. She was in a lot of sports in high school of which I was the manager, but she was 4 yrs ahead of me, so we weren't great friends, but we enjoyed each other. But, every time I'm in RC, I see her parents and they are still as sweet as ever. Jeff married one of my very best friends growing up. Again, another friend lost to the lack of phone calling. If my friends are emailers, we don't keep in touch. :-( Amy Martin was my best friend from this picture until probably 5th grade. We did everything together. All of my fondest childhood memories are with her and her family. Our families were very close. Obie, her brother, was my brother's best friend for years and years too and we talk on FB a lot. He's expecting his 3rd child early next year. Tom, what can I say about Tom? He was such a character! He made me laugh then and makes me laugh now. We talk on FB a lot and he really hasn't changed much in all these years!

I was blessed to grow up in a small little town where my friends were my friends, for not just a couple years, but for a decade and beyond. It's been 30 yrs (can't believe that! good grief!) since that picture was taken and I still keep in contact with them - thank goodness for FB! The internet has opened up a whole new way for us to stay in touch. I wonder if our parents, when they sat us all down on that fantastic brown plaid sofa thought that 30 yrs later we'd still be in contact with each other, still care about how each other is doing, and continuing to live our lives as they taught us as very young christians - to love the Lord and do our best to serve him. What a tremendous testament to what they did for us and what God then grew in us during all this time.