Carla

Today my childhood friend Carla called--(Carla is her stage name, she was on the Perry Como show, played the lead in "Fantasticks", was Miss Montana, Homecoming Queen in High School, Child Prodigy, pianist, violinist, singer, A student)--In other words she did it all and I was a best friend.

Here, she is the smiling one in the center, I think it was a birthday party for her--I am the gloomy one on the right (I don't know what that was about). Anyway we had a wonderful childhood. There was a canyon by her house with lots of tall growth. We would play "Nyoka of the Jungle." She had a terrific imagination and I loved to follow her lead. We also would put on our rubber boots and crossed from the creek to an island on the river and searched for treasure (agates). We called it Poco Moco Loco Island as I recall. One day her brother followed us and that was the end of that. We were evidently walking through raw sewage. We would hike out to the badlands and Sugarloaf (a magical clay mound perfect for climbing up to and sitting in and eating lunch). Just don't be there when it rains--slippery, slippery. In high school we were the first Freshman to get our big D--attained through all kinds of athletic feats like biking 75 miles, 200 sit ups, 10 push ups, etc. We would have my brother drive us out of town so we knew how many miles it was and then bike back. With her imagination she would also make up stories to submit to magazines like "Confessions" or "True Love" or something and enthrall us with her articles.

In high school, our boyfriends were best buds so we double dated. One of the most funny to me was chasing a pig through town. I drove while the boys chased and I followed them down alleys and such. We had a lot of fun, needless to say. As I have said before, we had a magical childhood and teenage years. Oh yes, Carla was also a star in all the high school plays. As I say, she could do it all. I was a terrific audience but what else, I am not sure, a better driver I think. She would scare me to death as she would turn and talk to us in the back seat as she drove. As children, we even donned our best and attended the Community Concerts together. I used to have the autographs of famous violinists and pianists I had never heard of.

After her Broadway and TV years she was a music teacher at a private school and then a stockbroker on Wall Street and I was a school teacher, then a homemaker and then a mortgage broker in San Diego. She had her doctorate and did very well in the financial business. A regular whiz kid in anything she tried.

Now we are both old and she is in the city of New York or vacationing in Hilton Head and I live the simple life in the mountains. Amazing how two such different individuals can be best friends. But that is how life should be, isn't it?