Remaining The Same

A Story by ~Chels~

A personal essay I wrote for class.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve lived on the same street with the same neighbours and the same group of friends. Though everything has changed and grown, it all remains the same. The first friend I ever made is still my best friend in the world and I’m confident she will remain that way. We first met when we were four years old. She lived across the street from me and we somehow just noticed that we were about the same age. We both walked to the end of our driveways and waited for the other to say something. It was her that spoke first, offering me some cookies and introducing herself as Melanie. My memory of the days when it was just me and Mel is hazy. I remember her introducing me to her sisters Michelle and Melissa and her best friend Kelsey who just lived up the road. We all took turns playing at each other’s houses, Mel and I playing more often since we lived the closest.

Next to meeting Mel, my clearest memory of my childhood is meeting Matt and Matt. Mel and I were at my house fooling around close to the ditch which is right before the street. We saw three strangers walking up the road towards us, two boys and one woman. We knew of course that the woman was one of the boy’s mothers. She slowly walked behind them, always waiting when they stopped to pick cat tails out of the ditch. As they approached, we got quiet and forgot about our game. They both jumped down into the ditch to pick some more cat tails. Matt’s mom noticed us watching and asked the boys to pick us a cat tail. Matt J. picked a cat tail and threw it to me while Matt C. threw one to Mel. As they walked off Mel and I giggled as we held our cat tails. This was of course our first experience with boys but we never thought of them that way. They were always just friends.

I have a fairly big family and we all get together a few times a year. I love them all but they just weren’t the same as my other family. All the kids that live on my road consider all the parents their adopted parents. I have tons of moms, dads and even sisters and brothers. When we were little we played every day after school until we were called home for supper. Then after supper we all got together once more. It didn’t matter that we were all different ages and all liked different things. We were all the same in one way or another.

It isn’t just the kids that are all friends; our parents are all friends too. Every weekend our parents get together, sometimes at one big party or split up into little ones. My parents mostly hang out with the Carter’s and McKay’s while Mel’s parents are over at the LeBlanc’s or Demming’s. Every summer we invite every single person that lives on our street to a barbeque at a volunteer’s house. We all bring food which the men cook up on three of four barbeques. The women all sit in a circle and chat after making sure all the salads and desserts are ready. The kids are playing games and running around and the teenagers are usually talking in a circle until one of our parents call us over to get them a drink. We don’t mind all the extra things we have to do though, we’re all together and having fun. Later on we can go for a night time swim and someone will start up a camp fire. One time we hired someone’s uncle to play guitar and sing for us while we are chatted and sang along. Someone will buy a cake and write Ritchie Road Annual Barbeque on it every year. Every weekend in the summer we have barbeques and pool parties. We even have a last day of school party for all the kids.

Not only are all us kids friends and all the adults friends, but the kids and adults are friends with each other too. There was one woman that lived on our road but moved to Saint John a few years ago. She still comes to visit every once and a while and it’s like she never left. We called her the biggest kid on Ritchie Road because she was more childlike than any of us. We had a game where we chased her little dog around in circles and whoever caught him won a prize. The prize was always one of her delicious homemade cookies and she always offered one to all of us. When we were little she babysat all of us and when we grew up, we all babysat her kids at some point. We all have some kind of friendship with someone’s parents. Matt’s mom Lillian and I both like the same hockey team. My sister Jessica and Jordan’s mom Tina are best friends. My mom and Michelle talk to each other more than Michelle and I do.

Nobody really talks to each other at school. We all take the bus together but once we get off we’re all gone finding our other friends. No one really minds though. We don’t care if people know we’re friends, we just spend so much time with each other that we need a break at some time. Even though we’re older, some of us already graduates, we still hang out. We recently got a whole bunch of us together to make a giant snowman on one of our snow days. During the summer we still get together and go swimming or biking. We go to camp together, shopping together and sometimes we even just go for car rides together. We do anything and everything together. In the summer we always hear the dirt bikes and four wheelers that belong to the boys and in the winter it’s their snowmobiles. We don’t mind the noise though. We’re always watching them out our windows and sometimes going up the road to watch them on their homemade jumps.

Some of us talk more than others but we still consider everyone to be our best friend. We’ve grown up, made new friends, gotten boyfriends or girlfriends but whatever happens nothing changes between us. I hope that we will always remain friends and I believe that we will. Even if we lose contact we’ll still be invited to each other’s graduations, weddings, anniversaries and many more events. Some of us have been friends since before we started school and a relationship that long can’t easily be broken. We’ve all had our fights and regrets with each other but our status still remains the same and always will.