Moving to the ranch house wasn't the only sweeping change in my life around this time. Being a child, I knew not of how not great things at Upper Adams were. Remember that church picnic I mentioned? Well that was officially our last day there, thus confirming in my childhood brain that it was a long program that had finally ended. I was only told later of how oppressive the leaders were and how it was more of a show than an actual place of worship. All that aside, the members of the congregation and the people I knew outside of the leaders were amazing people. It's their interactions in my life that I am appreciative for.
After we left, Al & Sue met a couple by the name of Dan and Donna. This couple introduced them and my parents to what they called the local church life. What this meant was that wherever a group of believers was in any location, they met together with no agenda other than Christ and the Bible. There was no pastor, no set program, no band, etc. Now I'm not saying any of those things were bad, because they absolutely are not. But this was an interesting change that was much needed at the time. Al & Sue felt a strong leading and decided to open up their home for Sunday gatherings. It wasn't long before there was a decent group of us meeting together. Every Sunday there'd be singing, worship, praise, and fellowship all in Al & Sue's dome house. There'd also be children's service where one of the adults would bring us a lesson from the bible and then shortly after we'd be let loose to go outside and play. And the coolest part was we'd have lunch together afterwards on occasion. Sundays had become my new favorite day of the week.
With these two major changes in my life, came more friends. I already mentioned Chalene and Cameron and actually before we moved I had another really close friend. Her name was Elise. Those of you who have been longtime readers know who she was, but for the rest of you, well you'll get to know her a bit more along the way. After the move, I gained 8 new friends, bringing the total to 11, that would make up the original core friend group of my childhood. They are Joe, Becca, Zeke, Melinda, Joanna, Maggie, Katherine, and Zach. Each of them entered my life in slightly different ways, but every single one of them had a profound impact on how my childhood turned out.
Joe, Becca, and Zeke were all biological grandchildren of Al. Al was once married before Sue and Sue was also once married before Al. Both of their spouses passed and eventually they found each other. But whether the grandkids were biological or not, all three still called Sue Mamaw. Becca and Zeke are siblings and are both slightly older than I. Joe is their cousin and has a younger brother named Dan. Joe and I were born in the same year and once Al introduced us, we became fast friends and he became my best guy friend (Elise was my best girl friend). While Joe lived in PA, Becca & Zeke lived in Oklahoma. They came and stayed with Al & Sue for part of the summer each year. Whenever they did, Chalene, Cam, Zeke, Becca, Joe, and myself made up a tight friendship group that spent many wonderful summers together.
Elise came into my life not long after my parents moved from Texas to PA. Our moms were close friends and she was only two months younger than I. Our moms were in this program called Mom's Group which allowed for mothers to get together and do all sorts of fun things while other adults watched after their kids for that time. I loved it because I got to play with Elise and a bunch of toys I didn't have for a few hours each week. Our mom's also had each other over often so throughout the years we spent a lot of time at each other's houses. For the first half of my childhood, Elise played a prominent role in my life.
Maggie, Katherine, and Zach all were kids who lived in my new neighborhood. Maggie and Katherine were sisters and Zach was the youngest of four. Zach's story is unique in that he was the definition of a "surprise" baby. His parents had three grown children some of whom were already married. They were also grandparents to a 2-year old with a second grandchild on the way when Zach was born. It always blew my mind that he had a niece two years older than him and one who was nearly his age. Since all his siblings were grown and moved out, Zach spent a lot of time hanging with us. Maggie and Katherine also became close friends who became involved in a lot of things we did throughout the year.
Then, somewhere between 1994-1996, a lady by the name of Alice began meeting with us on Sundays and she brought her two twin daughters Melinda and Joanna. The girls were Sarah's age and like Maggie and Katherine, they also became involved in a lot of things we did. We spent a lot of time at their house as they did ours. They were and still are inseparable.
I have only scratched the surface with these friends of mine, but I wanted to take the time to briefly introduce them because during the PA years, they were the people who were a big part of my life and will continue to appear as we go along. Of course I met more awesome people along the way, but these are what I consider as "the core". One thing I've learned after all these years is that even the earliest friendships matter. Don't take them for granted.
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