Throwback Thursday - Best Friends of Huntsville, Alabama

I grew up in Huntsville, AL and attended Huntsville High School.  HHS was a VERY preppy high school with a very strong "in" crowd.  I think that most everyone will agree that the teen years can be brutal and especially for those who are not a member of the "in" crowd. 

During my youth - I was consumed with music.  I started piano lessons when I was quite young.  When I hit junior high school I joined the junior high choir and felt so much at home.  When I arrived at high school I found that anyone having anything to do with fine arts groups could never be considered part of the "in" crowd.  I realized very quickly that I could not live without music in my life so my path was clear.  It could have been a very lonely high school experience if not for my best friends...yes...best friends - plural. 

Carol E was someone that grew up across the street from me.  While she was a few years younger than me we still had a strong friendship.  Carol and I took piano lessons from the same piano teacher, we spent hours upon hours together playing after school, going to the neighborhood park and playing in our backyards.  Croquet was one game that we played every summer.  Our friendship took us together through elementary school, junior high, high school and then at Alabama. We were in each other's weddings. 

Telling one quick story about how much trouble Carol E and I could get into...One Christmas I received a really awesome surrey from Santa Claus.  While this picture is not the one that I had as a little girl it will give you an idea of what it looked like.

One day I thought that I had a flat tire on my surrey so Carol E and I decided to ride the surrey down to her uncle's gas station.  Now mind you - we were very young...I was probably 6 years old and Carol was even younger.  Carol's uncle's gas station was probably about a mile away so off we went to get the tire checked out.  I am sure that our parents were frantic when they could not find us and I know for sure that I got into some serious trouble when I got home!  I remember hiding under the bed from my dad - knowing that I was in for a spanking!  How many friends do you have that would do this for you?

Soon I met another yet very special person who quickly became one of my newest best friends - Carol B.  What can I say about Carol B?  We managed to help each other through those crazy school days.  Carol was always such a dear and special friend.  She was the type of friend that would be by your side no matter what!  Carol B and I were able to even keep in touch years through the years after I moved from Alabama but sad to say - we did lose touch!

In high school I also met Tamie K.  My greatest frustration in my first year of high school?  Latin Class!  Why oh why did I ever take Latin?  Well thank goodness for Tamie because she commiserated with my frustration with Latin and we soon became very close friends.  Tamie attended a Catholic School until reaching high school and she introduced me to Lois W who also attended the same Catholic school.  Also along with Lois came another special person who became a very dear friend -  Karen H.    Our little group did everything together...we had some interesting sleep-overs on weekends - cruised the Parkway in my reddish/orange 1964 Reddish/Orange Mustang.   I was the first one in the group to get my driver's license and the first one of the group to have a wreck!!  I also remember one very special day when we were Seniors in high school.  It was Earth Day.  As usual we all arrived at school early enough to gather at the car before going into school.  It was at this point that we decided that we should not be driving to school so all of us piled into my car and drove to someone's home...and parked the car.  We proceeded to walk to school in honor of Earth Day.  Never mind the fact that we had already driven to school in a car!  We were a bit late for class but  hey - we did our bit to honor Earth Day...sorta!

After high school we all went in different directions.  Tamie went to nursing school, Karen met and married Ronnie, Carol stayed in Huntsville and Lois and I headed to Florence, Alabama for college.  After one year at Florence Lois and I both transferred to the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where we were roommates our first year at Bama.

I am not sure why we all lost contact with each other but we did.  I know that I did not put my best effort into maintaining the oh so very special friendships that we shared and I still to this day regret it!

Thanks to Facebook I have found  Carol B, Carol E, Karen H, and Tamie K.  I only hope that somehow we can get together face to face again soon.  You were all such an important part of my life and help mold me into the person that I am today. The memories that I have of each of you just makes me smile!   Thank you for being such a special part of my life and thank you Facebook for allowing me to find my best friends of high school - all such special ladies!

Tamie, Carol, Carol, Lois and Karen - if you are reading this blog...please know how much I miss you...and how much your friendship meant to me!  Love you all bunches!  I really hope that we can have a reunion some day!