Friday, March 20, 2009

Flashback Friday

Ok, so flashback friday is a day late, story of my life sometimes. I did get the pictures loaded yesterday and then sat down numerous times to type.....but then I'd get interrupted by one of the boys or I would sit and stare at the screen while a number of memories flooded my head. I just didn't know where to start or what to type. How do you put years worth of memories down in one blog post??? You can't. My flashback is about two important parts of my life that are now gone.....my friend Kathy and this amazing house.


It's been almost 3 years now since Kathy passed away. I think about her a lot, about how damn unfair it is that she is missing out on her kids' life, missed out on her life. I know if I could be with her right now, she would make me laugh my butt off over stupid stuff. That's what good friends do, right? She would cheer me up out of a funk. See this house??? It's been almost 14 years since it was torn down to build a parking lot. Kathy, me and some of our best girlfriends lived in that house for our last 3 years of college. Ah, so MANY memories in that house. I think that house haunts me.....I have dreams about it all the time. I can still see every nook and cranny of that old, beautiful house. It was the perfect place for us to live in--we took good care of that house, we were proud of it. We even named that house. Everyone knew it as Tapped Out. See that window on the top floor?? That was Kathy's room....we would all climb out of her window and lay out on that roof, trying to catch some rays and talking about life. That porch was the best porch in the world. I WANT that porch on my house. We had a porch swing where we would sit at night and hang out. We had a huge concrete basement that looked like a cave....perfect for Halloween keggers when we didn't want our house trashed. :) We had an attic where we often heard little critters scampering around. We even caught a bat in a mouse trap one time--we could tell you a number of bat stories in that house. When that house was torn down, us girls drove over one night and we all stole a brick from the rubble....I still have it along with the stained glass 1115 that hung proudly over the front door. My dad got that for me and I still cherish it. House, I love you. We were so lucky to have you to make incredible memories in.

Here are the 4 roomates. (Do you think striped shorts were popular then???) Kathy is on the far right. We had so many good times together. We had our rough times too but we made it through. Some of my own rough times I never would have made it through if it hadn't of been for my girlfriends.

1993
I just had to add this last one of Kathy, it makes me smile. We started out having all of the same classes together our freshman year, then moving into a dorm room together at Christmas break to escape our current roomates, to moving in the house together, to a lifelong friendship that was unfortunately cut short. I miss ya girl, I hope you're living in that cool house of ours right now smiling down on us all.

Pete, Kathy, Mark

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

aw,Kel, you made me cry. I think it is ALWAYS incredibly hard to lose someone we love, but when they die young, it feels SO darn unfair that your heart aches constantly about all they miss, all you miss sharing with them. Of all your roommates Kathy struck me as a true individual, a strong girl with a mind of her own. She never seem to fit the 'norm' of the day.(in a good way) I remember HER room in your beloved house more than yours..odd huh? She must have had the room I'd have wanted....walk in closet right? It is wonderful you have cherished memories of those special years, and of your girlfriends, and of your house. It looks weird to see it and know right where it sat before the parking lot. At least you never had to see it run down and neglected, and it got to be YOURS by the fact you were the last to live there.

Zoe said...

what a very sweet memory!

Anonymous said...

I was so glad to find a decent house and super landlord for all you girls those 3 years-took a load off of my mind.There wer no tears (like seeing Nate's first house). I am glad Blessing's plan was to tear down the house AFTER you all graduated! I was glad to have known Kathy Too-and know what a great friend she was to you. I can imagine losing a friend at any age...but especially at your ages. What a good Flash-Back Friday (on saturday)

Controlling My Chaos said...

That sounds like a pretty amazing friendship. It made me sad to read it.