MaryBeth's Memories
At a young age we knew how valuable our friendship was. We only got in one fight and neither one of us remember what it was over (all we remember it that it was over something stupid)-- but we DO remember what we wore! We were probably around 6 years old. We were in front of my house and we made a promise that if we ever got in another fight, one of us would just say "stop, we made a promise to each other not to fight" and then we'd try to fix things. We never got in another fight and had to bring up our promise. I loved the relationship we had. Girls can be so cruel to one another and we never got that way. I honestly don’t have a bad m
emory with that girl.
We decided when we were in 1st and 2nd grade that we needed imaginary (or "invisible") pets. We had a baby dinosaur named Alfred and a possum named Henry. When we'd get together and play, our pets would have also play together and when we'd go home, one of us would take Alfred and the other would take Henry. We would also bring them to school in our book bags to trade them in the hall. Most of the time I had Alfred and Steph had Henry. (Yes, it's hard to believe but Stephanie had a POSSOM!)
Stephanie and I had the biggest imagination ever. I think we can give the credit to Barney and the Gang for that one. We could literally take small one toy and turn it into the most fun game possible and it would keep us entertained for months. We played "arcade" a lot-- we set up different games around my living room and play those for "tickets" and prizes. We also had this Santa figurine that we turned into a game-- Stephanie would be a kid who's Santa doll would turn into the real thing (I was Santa). I also had 2 dolls in my house, one was Peanut Butter and the other was Jelly. I would always be Peanut Butter 
and Steph would always be Jelly. We also played Barbie’s like typical girls. I was always jealous of her Barbie house! We used to play grocery store in her basement and restaurant in mine. We also played "pet shop" where Stephanie was the pet shop owner and I would be the pets. I really have no idea how we came up with all of this stuff!
Another example of our crazy imagination was when we tried to go to the moon. Stephanie was playing at my house and her mom walked over to pick her up. Our moms were talking in the driveway so Steph and I figured that we had another 10 minutes to play. We got a few toys from my garage (I think we got "Skip It" and a basketball maybe) and went to my basketball hoop. We made a device around my basketball hoop (which was probably just the Skip It tied around the pole), held hands, and chanted "Shimberee, Shimberaa" (just like Barney). For some strange reason, it didn’t work.
I don’t know what gave us this genius idea, but we decided that we could make a magic potion with various things in my refrigerator. We got a glass and put anything and everything we could find. I remember it had ice cream and ketchup (or "chech-up" as Steph called it). It was probably the grossest thing I've ever tasted. We only took a sip but to us, a sip was enough to make it work! We ate popsicles after (probably to get rid of the gross taste) and I remember Stephanie yelling "MaryBeth! It works! I've never been able to bite into a Popsicle before and I just did!" I put the potion to the test by kicking a soccer ball and I kicked it "the farthest I've ever kicked a ball before" so obviously, we did something right with our potion haha.
I still remember when my mom said to me "The Olivas are moving". I was absolutely devastated. I cried a lot about that. We were still living in the same town but I was so upset about it. Stephanie and I decided to be pen pals so we could stay in touch (and it's exciting to get mail!) so we wrote letters back and forth a lot. Often, we'd be at each others houses when we'd get a letter in the mail.
I've had a scar on my lip for as long as I can remember... and Stephanie gave it to me! I don’t really remember it; I think we were too young. According to my mom, we were playing with lawn darts (which are now off the market because of how unsafe they are) and I got in the way when Steph threw one. I love that I have a part of Stephanie that will always be with me. I've always liked that scar too, it's original.
Stephanie and I did play outside from time to time. One thing we did quite a bit was chalk on the driveway. We'd make our dream houses and draw out the whole neighborhood! We'd play house after we'd make our creations until the rain came and we had to start over. In the winter, since I live in a circle, I always got quite the mountain of snow in my front yard. We played out there a bit on the sleds and tubes. I have some pictures of us with a tunnel we started to dig. We played on our swing sets a lot too. The last person to use my swing set was Stephanie actually. Mine was getting pretty rusty and we knew it had to come down soon. Steph sat on one of the swings and the swing just collapsed so we decided it was time for the swing set to go! I also remember when Stephanie lived in her old house; we'd have campfires in her backyard. I always loved those.
We also had best friend dolls. We both had the American Girl dolls that looked like us. We would play with those from the minute she got to my house until the minute she left. Those dolls were our favorite things for awhile.
Stephanie nicknamed my Dad "Mr.Georgie" and would do sit ups with him. My Dad said he would get a kick out of it because she would just jump down next to him and do them and she'd do them so fast. I can still picture her doing that.
We played in my basement a lot. Steph and I would play school and I'd try to teach her stuff that I was learning (I think I was hoping that she'd learn all of the stuff and be able to skip her grade and be in my class). We went to a neighbor’s house to play school but they never let us be in the same class, we weren’t too happy about that one.
I absolutely loved our sleepovers! We had them quite a bit after she moved into her new house. We watched movies before bed and she would always ask a million of questions and I would always answer them and ruin the movie. Before bed we would talk and talk and talk. And if we heard one of my parents and thought we were going to get in trouble for being up so late, we'd pretend like we were sleeping. I remember one of the sleepovers at her house; we found a bunch of hats and sunglasses. So Stephanie, John, and I were the "Spice in Black" (our own combo of Spice Girls and Men in Black). Those pictures still make me
laugh.
I loved when we went to St. Johns together. We were able to spend time together at lunch and on the playground. It was always fun to see her in the hall. She used to tell me a story about St. Johns that I had her tell me over and over because she always said it so dramatically and so funny. I still remember the story word for word.... "In 1st grade, I was sitting Indian style in my desk and the kid behind me puked. Then.... my favorite pencil.... dropped!" The story may not sound so funny but how she would say the last line was so hysterical. She made it sound like it was the most dramatic thing ever.
We loved to do art projects. One of our favorite things to do was to use markers on coffee filters and put them in water so the colors would run and make a design. We also made things for our American Girl dolls like mini bookcases. We were quite creative.
When we were really little I used to tell her there was a horse in my shed. I know she never believed me. But we had fun gathering some grass for it.
Stephanie and I pretended like we had a business when we were really little. It was underneath my dining room table. It was called "Popcorn Heaven" and we used toy bricks to make a drive up window and everything. We wore headphones when we worked in the drive through window.
Steph was the first friend I drove when I had my license. I remember saying in the car to her "when we get back to my house, I guarentee my parents will ask you a million questions about my driving." So when we got back to my house, before my parents could even ask, she went up to them and said (with such enthusiasm) "MaryBeth is the BEST driver ever!" and just went on and on and on about my driving. It was absolutely hysterical. And my parents thought I made her say it!
The last time I hung out with her, we went and played Bingo. Everytime we wouldnt get a number or they were calling them too fast, Stephanie would get so frusterated and her comments had me laughing so hard. We probably won and never realized it.
At her old house, a giant grasshopper landed on my back and I screamed my head off until one of the neighborhood kids got it off. Steph loooved to remind me of that one. She really got a kick out of it.
When we used to play Barbies and with the American Girl dolls, she would always do their hair and say "I'm going to be a hairdresser." It made me so happy that she was going to school for it because she was going to achieve her dream that she had for so long.