While on the topic of memories, what better than to capture some on my blog? Jog the old brain cells and document it now lest I forget. 
Who were your childhood friends and what do you remember doing with them?
Mine were Carey Ford, my neighbor, and Brian Joyce. Carey and I would hang out all the time. She was a bit of a tomboy, and we would climb around in the trees in her front yard for hours. My imagination was let wild there. One day it would be a giant fortress we were protecting against evil monsters, the next a vast spaceship, each of at different controls. Perhaps another time we were spies watching someone. Strong emotions form strong memories. While I remember tons of good times with her, I remember two times I was hurt. Once we were playing Pac-Man (she and her sisters were ghosts I believe, and I chomped my arms up and down before me like the infamous yellow circle-shaped video game character), and I tripped on a bump in the sidewalk near our homes. Scabbed up my knee and I had a white scar there until college. Sort of felt weird when it finally disappeared. The other time her dog (was his name Benji?) who would sometimes bark his head off at me, and other times let me play with him (he was some small terrier) got hacked off at me. We were in her back yard and her dad was installing a wood fence. He had this big stack of panels, perhaps 8 foot by 8 foot, and everyone was on top of them but me. The dog couldn’t jump up there. Benji went after me and I tried to get up but he bit me before I could. In reality it was probably a nip that barely drew blood, but I think at the time I was traumatized by being viciously attacked by him!!
Brian lived further away, but my mom and I would go over a lot, as his mom and my mom were friends. He and his brother had a fantastic Star Wars collection. He had an uncle who worked for Mattel and sent him all the figurines he was missing for Christmas and birthdays, I believe. I always loved going over to his house and hanging out.
Carey skipped a grade in elementary school, and I remember I was upset when my parents decided not to let me skip one as well. I easily could have kept up with the assignments and such, but I was already towards the end of the birthdays for my school year (April) and not exactly a big kid. Probably wise to not throw me in with even bigger kids! We drifted apart a little after that but still had many memorable sunny afternoons walking loops around our street barefoot, our feet building up callouses from the heat reflecting off the burning hot black asphalt.
Brian on the other hand moved, I think and we didn’t see each other for years. Randomly at a little league baseball game for my brother years later I saw him, we were probably teenagers in high school. Looking back through my gay filter, I can realize now I thought he had matured into quite a hunk, though I had no idea at the time I felt that way. I do remember talking to him for a while, and while feeling it was good to see him again, I could tell that we didn’t really click anymore and probably wouldn’t have been friends if we’d met in high school.
People change, and they come and go, but you cherish the good times no matter how long they lasted.