Tonight we dined at the Olive Garden, which was lovely. We arrived and got on the waiting list. We stood by the door and looked at babies and crazy ladies in stretchy pants and giant tee shirts. The kids started to get restless and push each other and fight. They all got a slap upside the head. Skylar got mad and threw her sweatshirt over her head in anger. Bill started to get bored and aggrivate J by flopping all her hair in her face. She could only take so much and as I turned to see what the trouble was I saw it. All in slow motion. J, who was standing in front of Bill, reared her little arm back and elbowed him right in the parts. Bill gasped with a shocked and horrified look on his face. He had to fight all of his instincts not to pick her up by the head and shake her. Right as this was happening our buzzer went off and the hostess was coming straight at us. I couldn’t talk to her because I was was losing my mind with laughter.
We sat down and chowed on all you can eat salad and super garlicy bread sticks. You know sometimes you get the bread with hardly any garlic, oh no my friend not tonight. SUPER GARLIC!! We started to eat our dinner and Fallyn was sitting on her knees instead of her butt and all the sudden I see the chair jerk and a terrified and startled look on her face as her rolly chair slid backwards like she was on some crazy reverse roller coaster. Everyone was watching her and I started to laugh and she got really mad and embarrassed. I couldn’t stop laughing because I just kept seeing her face looking horrified. This enraged her and she threw her chicken strip in Bill’s sprite. This in turn mad him mad and she got her 2nd slap upside the head of the night. That did not go over well and Fallyn grabbed her plate and loudly moved over one spot at the table. I let her calm down for a few and then I asked her how her head was because a couple days earlier she tripped on the sidewalk and got a huge knot on her head. When I asked how her head was she started rubbing it and said very sadly “it hurts now because he just hit it”. This made me spit my bellini tea into my 5 cheese ziti.
I just saw everyone around us looking into our seemingly dysfunctional family and thought of the old Will Ferrell sketch of SNL when he would scream at family dinners that he is in middle management and drives a dodge stratus and then at the end of every dinner ends up throwing the whole table to the ground and screams “fuck this, im outta here!”
We finally got out of there and while we were walking to the car J tripped in the parking lot so hard that it knocked her shoe and half of her sock right off. I laughed all the way home.

Part 2 ~ Waking Up

Kristie stayed the night with me when we got home from the hospital. When I woke up I had forgotten for a moment and then it hit me. I remember feeling like I was floating along my day. I was a puppet on a popsicle stick in front of a moving 4th grade play background. I went with my dad to the funeral home to make arrangements. I couldn’t go in so I just sat in the truck.
I don’t understand why when someone dies, the only thing people can think to do it bring food. When I am upset the last thing I want to do is eat. The house was full of pans of things, bowls with foil over them, and a whole ton of KFC someone brought over. Death makes people uncomfortable and by bringing food to the family they can absolve themselves of whatever the horrible feelings are they are feeling. The best thing anyone ever said to me during all this was, “I’m sorry about your brother, that’s really shitty.” It was so real and I appreciated that. It was just shitty. That’s all I can say.
The previous night I knew that I had to be strong for my dad and I needed to keep it together for him but then next day is when it all hit me. I am an intensely private person when it comes to showing any emotion so this was harder than anything I had to do before. I remember going into the bathroom and just sliding down along the door into a crumpled mess on the floor.
That night I couldn’t sleep. I spent the entire night just going through Franks things to find any trace of him. Any proof I could find to validate his life and prove to myself that I didn’t just dream him up and that he was real. I remember constantly watching the time and the season and thinking he was alive 24 hours ago. I still do this to this day. Just today I thought 5 years ago today he was here, carefree and just about to graduate high school.
The next night I went to Kristie’s house but I called before I got there to tell her to make sure no one talked about it or asked how I was. I can’t stand it when someone asks me how I am. It instantly brings me to tears. I got there and everyone went on like nothing was wrong. I was laying on the couch alone when Kristie’s mom came into the room and sat down. She did not obey the don’t talk about it rule. She asked how I was and I tried not to not to cry but it was impossible and she said to me the only thing that will help is time. She said it would be ok and I believed her.
Later that night while everyone was downstairs watching SNL I went upstairs and really just cried.
It would be one more day until the funeral.

Open

A flashback to my brothers death.

Part 1 ~ The Landing

October 9th, 2003

I was living in Texas but I had flown up to Ohio to spend 3 days with my family and friends. My dad picked me up from the airport that afternoon. I distinctly remember asking him how and where my brother Frank was. He told me that he was in southern Ohio and he wasn’t doing well. He said he had broken up with his girlfriend and was really torn up about it.
Later that night I was at Kristie’s house and we were getting ready to go out. It was 7 in the evening and we were in the bathroom when the phone rang. I picked up because everyone was busy and it was my dad. He was upset and he just blurted out, Frank’s dead. I just got a phone call from a hospital in southern Ohio and Frank is there and he is dead. I didn’t understand the words. I couldn’t get them right in my head. He asked if I could come home and go to the hospital with him. I asked Kristie to drive me because there was no way I could figure it out. We got there and my dad rushed me to the truck and I made Kristie come too. I couldn’t do it alone.
The drive was two hours. Two hours when you are trying to wrap your head around something like forever feels like you are in a nightmare where the bad guy is right on your heels but you can’t run. I remember I just kept thinking that maybe he got it wrong. Maybe Frank was hurt, because he couldn’t possibly be gone. The ride there we tried to guess what happened, how it happened. I tried to be strong and tell my dad that Frank was ok on the other side. I made jokes. I told funny stories about Frank. I never cried.
We got to the hospital and were met by a priest who ushered us to the back. In the waiting room was my mom with some people I didn’t know, and the parents of the friend of Franks where he was staying and where he died. My dad asked me to go back with him and he needed me to go back with him, but I couldn’t do it. I could not stand to see my brother dead on a hospital bed.I stayed in the waiting room with Kristie. I remember walking to the bathroom and there was a sign on the door of a person falling. I called for Kristie and when she turned around I pretended like I was falling and we laughed.
I knew that my dad was not going to want to leave the hospital. I put myself in his place and thought if one of my kids was dead I wouldn’t want to leave them either. It’s such an intense feeling of emptiness. A feeling of there is absolutely nothing else you can ever do to help your child.
When we finally walked out my dad was crying. There is nothing you can say. The ride home was quieter and more somber than before. We now had our confirmation and there was nothing left to hope for.
Cause of death? Accidental Overdose. The final blow was given by someone other than my brother to himself.

It was Skylar’s 7th birthday party and all the usual people were there, the girls, Chris, Stephanie, my friend Hagen (who didn’t know my family very well) and my parents.
My parents were the last to arrive, and had they had some drinks and some doobies on the way? No doubt. So it’s all going ok until the opening of the presents. My mom kept bending over to help Skylar and my dad kept yelling “melissa stop bending over everyone can see your beaver!” My friend Hagen just kept looking horrified. I think he might have tried to look at my mom’s beaver though after the 10th time my dad brought it to everyones attention.
One of the presents Skylar got was a new 2-wheeler bike which she didn’t know how to ride. We took it outside and my dad promptly jumped on and started riding a tiny little girl bike down the driveway. Then he put Skylar on it and was trying to teach her to ride. They were going down the driveway and when he stopped holding on she would fall. When they got down the sidewalk a little Skylar had enough and got off the bike and decided to just walk it. This made my dad mad and he started his mad stutter. I don’t even know what he was saying but he was walking back in a huffy. Just then my puppy escaped the yard and starts running for his life down the road. I had to chase him down and carry him home like a baby while the neighbors sat back and watched the show.
We went inside to have cake and as we were eating I looked over at my dad who was sitting casually on the couch. Not only was he wearing a party hat on his head, but he was also wearing two inside his shirt to make two very pointy man boobs.
As they were leaving he backed into a fire hydrant and crunched his bumper.
Happy 7th Birthday.

Part 10 ~ The Calm

Soon after I moved to Ohio I met Chris, who I had known in high school but just re found. He was the most normal Ohio type guy you could ever find. After being with a truly insane person for 5 years it seemed like heaven. We lived together for 3 years and intended to get married. Thank god I regained my senses before that happened. I realized I am not the type of girl for that type of guy. In no way am I a simple girl with simple thoughts. I don’t want everyday to be the same and I have an intense need to roam. I learned a lot about who I really am from this relationship.
I moved into a house down the road from where I lived with Chris when the relationship ended last year and though it’s hard it has been a great year. I have been dating Bill for about a year and he still makes me laugh everyday and I appreciate that more than I can express.
I have many more years ahead of me and I don’t know where it will lead but I will let you all know.

This blog is in no way over. I have too many stories to tell, so this was a brief ( or maybe not so brief) overview of me so far.

Thanks for reading.

Part 9 ~ The Marriage

I knew who David was through Kristie. We would see each other at her parties and I never thought anything about it. One night when everyone was out by the bonfire I went in the house to go to the bathroom. I didn’t think anyone was in the house and when I rounded the corner he was there. He scared the hell out of me. We started talking and I thought maybe I was kind of interested. I knew where he lived so the next day I showed up at his apartment to hang out. He was very charming and seemed like he had his shit together. I was kind of drifting. Working and going to school but I didn’t know where I was going and he seemed settled. I was attracted to settled. In no time I had moved in. One day when I came home from work I found all my things piled up by the front door. I wish I would have taken it and gone right then. If I only had known, I would have. I would have never looked back. That is not what happened. When I looked closer I saw that he had gone through everything I had. All the things a teenage girl hangs onto, old notes from old boyfriends, pictures from high school, and yearbooks were in my boxes. He had blacked out every picture of every guy, blacked out every address I had with a guys name on it, and laid out all my old love notes to make it look like I was cheating on him. This was within a month of us being together. I guess I had cheated on him with all my life I had before him. Somehow he could always twist things to make me feel like I had done something wrong. He would wake me up in the middle of the night by leaving notes on me and leaving or just acting like he was gone. He would make things up because there was nothing real for him to complain about. He always thought I was cheating. When I was at work sometimes I would see him looking in the windows. He somehow was able to alienate all my friends and family leaving just him. I felt I like I would be in trouble if I talked to them and then he would leave. I don’t know why I was so afraid of him leaving. I think partly it was because I was pregnant by then and I didn’t think I would ever be able to do it alone. I didn’t want to go home alone, much less with a baby. We got married in the courthouse the day after I turned 20. There was no engagement, or celebration; it was an arrangement. I didn’t love him but I made do. I made things ok. I tried my best to just keep them smooth. I learned to navigate his lies and not to ask questions but to just accept them so we didn’t have a fight.
After I had Skylar he would just quit jobs and not work so we couldn’t pay our bills. He did this, he later admitted to me, so that I would agree to move to Texas. I had some family there and he wanted to go there and start over no matter how he had to get there.
We moved into my Grandma and Grandpa’s house for 10 months. My grandma once described me this way, “it’s like the lights in your eyes just go dark once he comes back.” She was completely right but I had convinced myself that miserable or not, this was my life. This was how it was going to be and nothing could change it. I got pregnant with Fallyn and had her two months after we moved into our house. I was now 24 years old with two kids, a house, a husband, with no friends and no outlet. I loved the girls. I loved having babies and I loved taking care of them. I passed the time with planting roses and gardenias. I made a vegetable garden and got some cats. I had things to do, but really it was just a mask. My spirit felt really broken. I wasn’t me anymore. I didn’t care about taking care of myself at all. I remember many nights laying in my bed and just crying myself to sleep because inside of me I could feel the outside world and I knew it was passing me by. I was forgotten. I felt that there were things waiting for me out there and I had no way of getting to them. I hated him. I felt bad for him eventually because really he had no one. His family didn’t know who he really was. I don’t think anyone did or does.
When I got pregnant with Jezalyn I was surprised, I wasn’t ready for her but I knew I would have three so this would be the last baby. After I had her I felt like my spirit was coming back. I felt stronger somehow. When J was a few months old, I met someone online. I honestly did not mean to. I was looking for someone for my friend to meet hoping so would find someone where I lived and move. It sounds crazy but that’s what happened. So I started talking to someone and realized I liked him. It was wrong and I am sorry for hurting someone but I can’t help but think it was also good. It was like someone breathed life back into me. It was like I woke up from a horrible dream and suddenly remembered who I was. This girl living in a shadow of her former self was not me. I began looking for a way out. One day my dad called me and for whatever reason, he asked me a simple question. Do you want a divorce? I broke into tears and said yes. He said he would be there tomorrow. He packed a bag and drove 24 hours to Houston. Within two days I had filed for divorce and moved out. When I left David, J was only eight months old. I feel like I cheated her out of being a baby. I feel like with my head being so many other places, she didn’t get what her sisters did from me. It haunts me. I moved in with my Grandpa while I figured out what I wanted to do. I took the kids to Ohio for 6 weeks a month after that. I came home and had so much fun being with my girls, my friends, and my family that I knew I needed to move home. It wasn’t easy though. I felt really sad because my grandpa was down there with no one and I had become really close with my aunt Pam. So I returned to Houston where I was constantly stalked. I would find him creeping around the house or peeping in my bedroom windows.
I was officially divorced January 2004, and I went back and forth between Houston and Ohio for months before finally just not returning to Houston. I got an apartment on my own with the girls and I hadn’t been that happy in years.

Part 8 ~ After the Graduation

With high school behind me I shipped out to the army. I was 18 and had zero physical ability but 100% will to never return home. My basic training was in SC and this is where I met one more of my best ladies. Aimee and I became friends on our first march. It was the 4th of July and it was insanely hot. By the time we got to our destination we were nearing tears and totally regretting our decision to be in the army. We starting talking and even though my first impression of her was that she was a nerdy little snot bag and she thought me to be a butch dyke, we discovered that we were a lot alike. Without that girl by my side I don’t think I would have made it out of basic training. One of the last things you have to do in basic is a field exercise. Our mission was to each dig two hole to lay in, in the prone position. We could not do this. We whined and complained and bitched until some boys came and started to help us. When the drill sgt. discovered this we were removed from basic duty and put of 1st sgts detail which meant we had to help serve food and guard the 1st Sgts tent. Basically we hung out in the woods and giggled. I remember running through the woods on this trip looking for Aimee and I tripped over the 1st Sgts tent rope. I sailed though the air like superman, my M16 went one way and I went another. The 1st Sgt ran out of the tent to see what happened and found me sprawled all over the woods. He looked at me and shook his head and in his best puerto rican accent said, “good lord private!” The night before our last physical fitness test, which we were sure we were going to fail anyway and have to stay at basic training, we ate an entire bag of illegal oreos and cried because we were going to have to leave each other soon. The next day we both pased. Im sure it was the oreos.
After basic I went to AZ for advanced training. Drinking was legal for those 18 and up because we were so close to Mexico. I was there for four months, out of those four I probably remember 2 months total. I drank myself to puking many times a week. It was really gross. It was four years of college crammed into four months.
I got out of the army after 6 months. Failure to adapt to military life.

When I came home I was barely 19. I stayed with my mom for a few months. This ended the night she threw a beer at my head in some kind of drunken rage. I ran after her to just honestly beat her ass but I was blocked by her house of a room mate. I left that night and moved in with Steph.
It was weird coming home after the army. Though not much time had passed I was different. I had been on my own and in the military and my friends were all still with their parents like nothing had changed but now they could be home to watch daytime television. I was desperately looking for something but I didn’t know what.

Part 7 ~ The Drawing of the Three
shit wait, that’s a Stephen King title. ok…

Part 7 ~ Survival

Growing up with this life wasn’t easy but I found three people who made it easier.
The first person I met was Jackie, aka the little girl in the strawberry dress, the second was Stephanie who was in my kindergarten class, and finally Kristie who came later when I was in 7th grade.

Jackie’s Story~

After we met that day in her yard we became best friends. The first time I went to her house her mom (Donna) made us some lunch. After lunch I promptly threw up mac and cheese all over their floor. I am awesome at first impressions. I think Donna was thankful for me though because Jackie was an only child and when I was around it probably kept Jackie from asking her so damn many questions. Jackie and I would spend everyday together. Donna would take us swimming and to the flea market and my mom would lay out in the sun on our deck.
I could always escape to Jackie’s house when I needed to. I always distanced myself from my family and I hated being home. I always felt more comfortable with their extended family than my own. I was always included with all their holidays and family get togethers. In my life whenever I don’t have someone it seems like someone else always shows up in their spot. My mom wasn’t really there for me so Donna showed up. I didn’t have any sisters and then Jackie showed up.
One of my favorite memories and being at Jackie’s takes place in the winter time. WInter when we were kids was a lot different than it is now. There was so much snow back then. So there was a ton of snow on the ground and we were waiting for the pizza guy. When Jackie saw him pull up she ran outside in her nightgown and her mom’s shoes. On the way back to the house one of the shoes came off and she couldn’t find it. She came in, dropped the pizza off and when back outside to find this shoe. She was hysterical and I told her she could find the shoe later but the reason why she wouldn’t come in is because she truly believed that her mom only had one pair of shoes and now that she had lost one, her mom had no shoes to wear.
Another dazzling Jackie moment was in Florida. She has always been just a tad on the overdramatic side, oh and really clutzy side too. So somehow she fell down in the hallway at my Gramps’ house. She was adamant that she had sprained her ankle and when no one believed her she took purple eyeliner and colored her ankle to look like it was bruising. She hobbled down to my dad and said she needed to go to the hospital. I told him the truth before he took her down there. She was mad for a few hours.
One of the best best best memories was on one of the worst days of my life. I will tell you about that day some other time, for now this is about Jackie. My family and my friends were all gathered in this small hall. We were all eating lunch and Jackie went to ask my dad a question. On her way back she slipped on something and fell down in front of everyone. It wasn’t just a little slip it was a disaster. For one thing she had on a short skirt and the other thing was the hall was really old and had a hard wood floor that was really loud. When Jackie hit the floor the sound was totally amplified by the old floor. I screamed with laughter and she wanted to punch my face but she just sat there. Mortified. Oh by the way, this was when we were 25.
Jackie and her mom are now living in Newport, RI and the kids and I go up and visit every summer. I wish we were closer but no matter where they are, they always feel like home.

Stephanie’s Story

We met when I moved to Mantua and started school. We were in the same class and she was nice to me. Everyday she would bring in My Little Ponies and share them with me. Everytime Steph broke her leg she would always pick me to stay inside with her at recess time to hang out. We were friends for three years before I had to moved schools and we lost touch. When we ended up in the same homeroom class in 7th grade we just picked right up where we left off. The soul immediately recognizes certain people I think. I remember the first day of 7th grade. She sat at the desk next to me and was wearing an oversize Garfield tee shirt. We started talking and I realized she was hilarious.
I always seemed to do bad things with Steph. I remember hanging out her bedroom window and shooting a BB gun at her dads van. She taught me how to shoplift, and all the drinking I did in high school was at her house.
My mom would buy us alcohol and we would go and drink it in her room. On our 16th birthday she got so drunk that I had to carry her upstairs and put her to bed. Unfortunately I had to pass by her dad’s room to do this. He saw us and asked what was wrong and I tried to cover for her by saying she was sick, but as a recovering alcoholic and someone with eyes, he knew what was up. The next day Stephanie had to go to alateen. She was by no means anywhere close to being alcoholic which made the whole thing even funnier. You can’t really blame the guy though.
She was the only friend that stood by me through the years when I had all my kids. She was the only one that made the trip to Texas to visit when I lived there. She is truly my sister. For every event in our lives we have been there and will be for each other. When we are old crotchedy ladies and everyone else has long since died, there we will be in a house with 190 cats.

Kristie’s Story

I knew who Kristie was since 5th grade. I always though she was weird. She was the only one who would ever actually dance at those horrible middle school dances. I thought she was crazy.
When 7th grade rolled around she was in my class. We started talking and instantly clicked. The first time I went to her house I was really sick but I still wanted to go. So I took a bunch of cold medication and off I went. That day we watched Nightmare on Elm Street movies and some cops. We went to sleep that night and I woke up completely hallucinating. I was hearing cop sirens and seeing lights and for some reason, I really thought that there were black people hiding under the bed from the cops. It was a mixture of cold medicine, Freddy Krueger, and cops. I woke Kristie up just out of my mind crazy and said we had to go downstairs. We went down there and her mom and 2 younger brothers were watching SNL and when her mom asked what we were doing, Kristie told her I thought black people were hiding under the bed.
Even through all that I was allowed back over. I spent most of high school at her house. Every Saturday night at least. You know we had to watch SNICK.
Though we grew apart for a few years while I was gone, when I returned home we were like peas and carrots.
Reunited and it feels so good!

So with the help of these three ladies and their families, I survived my own.

Part 6 ~ Mantua

We moved to Mantua, Ohio nearing the end of kindergarten. I completely remember my first day because it was kind of warm out and when I got home my mom wasn’t there. I was alone in a new place and I was six years old. The logical thing to me at the time was for me to wander around the neighborhood to find my mom. I didn’t just walk sidewalks though, I just meandered through peoples’ yards. I remember walking into one yard and a little girl started to walk out her front door. She had dark blonde hair and was wearing a sundress with a huge strawberry on it. It’s funny how you remember those things. The little girl, Jackie was her name, has been my best friend for 24 years now. She yelled for her mom and her mom appeared at the door. She asked my name and luckily she knew my dad. She had Jackie walk me home.
My mom stayed with us until I was 12. The months before she left were filled with mysterious shopping trips alone and once she took me to a picnic at some guys house who I had never met. Right before Easter that year she announced she was moving out. She left my dad alone with my two younger brothers and me. She has remained in and out of my life, but mostly just out.
My friends became my family and their moms became my mom.
My dad took my brothers, me and my friend Jackie to Florida once when I was about 13. We all piled into an old giant station wagon and headed south. Shortly after we left we broke down in KY. We found a shop and left the wagon and checked into a hotel. The next day while waiting around the shop for the car to be finished Frank, my little brother who was about 6, had to go to the bathroom. The bathroom was around the back of the shop, but so was a giant black dog. Rather than go any further, Frank opted to poop his pants. He then came back and told my dad that he was really sick. My dad then proceeded to put his poop underwear in a ziplock bag and held it up for everyone to see and kept saying, “that boy’s sick!”
Another time my dad was taking us to Florida again, this time it was my two brothers, two of my girlfriend and me. My dad rented a van and we were on our way. We got about 20 minutes from home before we slammed into the car in front of us. My dad was showing my brother Frank who was in the passenger seat, the lights on the mirror on the visor. Frank hit his head on the windshield, my brother Mikes head was wedged in between the seat and window, my friend Krista rolled to the front of the van and I don’t even remember what happened to me. I know that we were all sitting on the side of a busy road in our baggy traveling clothes like a band of homeless. We had to go to the police station and file a report and they kept asking Frank if he hit his head but he wouldn’t admit it. Turns out Frank was just taking one for the team, if he didn’t hit his head then he didn’t have to go to the hospital and we could all get on the road to Florida. We had one of those luggage holder tops on the van and my dad was constantly asking what that sound was and if we thought it was the turtle top coming loose. Pretty soon my friend Kristie and I would bang on the windows and say that we thought the top was coming loose. I don’t know how many times he stopped the van. Every single road trip we would go on, when we would get close to Florida he would try to spot alligators. Now I don’t think they hang out on 95 south but he was convinced. Every single popped tire on the side of the road he would see, he would scream ALLIGATOR! Every one.
Things continued on this way for 6 more years, until I finally graduated and got the holy hell out of dodge.
Things pretty much continued this way until I finally moved out.

Part 5 ~ Cleveland

We moved into a duplex somewhere in Cleveland. We had the downstairs unit and we had some upstairs neighbors that loved to beat the hell out of each other. Im my parents room they had deep red shag carpet that would make a loud crunchy sound with every step.
My brother Mike and I would play fun games like, God Wants Me to Have ______________ Fill in the blank here. Anytime I wanted something my brother had, I would just tell him that God wanted him to give it to me. We weren’t even religious so how he even knew who god was is mysterious to me. I cheated that kid out of all kinds of treats, but mostly popsicles. Sorry Mike.
Before we knew what was happening my mom was pregnant again. She had a baby shower at our house and I remember that all my dads brothers and sisters came over and then started this game of throwing my plastic eggs from my kiddie fridge at each other. This apparently was great fun to adults. The day we went to pick up my mom from the hospital and bring her and my new brother Frank home I remember riding up the elevator and having no idea what I was in for. We put Frank in the carseat and he held my finger all the way home. Turns out Frank had the colic and was an asshole.
I would hate when my mom would take a shower and make me entertain Frank. I would have to sit with him and all he would do was cry and be a rotten little man. The entire family called him Cranky Frankie.
In between watching one brother, I was torturing another. Once I told my brother Mike that hot peppers were carrots so that he would eat them. He did and then flipped his wig and cried and I got in trouble. Another time I made him eat play doh and my mom later found it in his diaper.
I started kindergarten in Cleveland and I was in the afternoon class. I remember my mom walking me there once and I’m telling you all now she had on socks and flip flops. I had a best friend named Beth and a little boyfriend named Jose. I knew he was my boyfriend because once when we were watching a movie he put his arm around me.
I moved a few months into my kindergarten year and lost touch with them but I feel fairly certain Beth and Jose have a few kids together and have probably been married and divorced.