By Jessica T, staff writer
As a kid my parents spent a lot of their time working so oftentimes I had to be sent to a babysitter, which is where I met a friend.
My babysitter’s place was a one room apartment and the place was always filled with crying kids. That was pretty much my life until one day the doorbell rang and a new girl stepped in. She was new to me, but my mom said she and I grew up together and had actually known each other since we were 8 months old. To this day I don’t really know how me and this girl met. All I know is, Amy became my best friend.
Amy lived one floor higher from my babysitter’s room, so she would come downstairs everyday because that was our meeting place and then we’d do whatever our imaginations led us to do that day. We would make forts out of blankets and pretend that we were in a castle. We made a mess, and soon learned that we had to clean it up ourselves. Our babysitter’s daughter was always out and she had a room which she’d never allow us to be in, but we’d beg our busy babysitter until she allowed us to go in. When we couldn’t go into the room we’d be out in the hallway or stairs of the apartment building, sit there, blow balloons, and talk about a million things.
Although Amy was a fun person to be around she was also a trouble maker, and when she got in trouble, I got in trouble. As I mentioned before we’d hang out in the hallways and stairs but we weren’t really allowed to. The manager of the building was strict and he made it clear once that he didn’t want us out there. Amy, not caring about the consequences, would try to get me to do something I knew was wrong, but she was also really good at nagging so I’d go with her along with one other kid. We’d sneak into the hallway and be very quiet, but once somebody let out a little giggle we’d have to run back up into our babysitter’s room as quickly as we could. Some days the manager would go up the stairs and we’d have to find some place to hide from him because if he found us he’d tell our babysitter, and we’d get scolded.
I remember the worst times to be with Amy was nap time. My babysitter did not mess around when it came to nap times. You had better hoped she didn’t see your eyes open. One time Amy and I were hiding under the blanket, pretending to be asleep. Amy would try the hardest to make me laugh even if that meant tickling me on purpose, but I knew I couldn’t laugh. Soon enough my babysitter found us both awake, and from that moment on Amy learned her lesson. Even though Amy was a troublemaker, everybody loved her because she brought a lot of excitement and joy in our lives.
So ever since me and Amy met or were born (according to my mom) we were inseparable. We went to the same Pre-school, the same Elementary school, the same after school programs.
However, during 5th grade, the last year of elementary school, things started to change between us. I started to get new friends, she started to get new friends, and we started to grow apart. We no longer hung out with each other during lunch, had pillow fights or danced with each other in her room.
We no longer even met up at our babysitter’s house because I started going over to my grandma’s house. We both just started walking different paths and both of us knew we weren’t going to the same middle schools, but I knew where she lived and she knew where I lived, so we weren’t really sad.
At the beginning of middle school, we still talked from time to time because we both had social media, but keeping in contact with each other didn’t last that long. The last time I heard from Amy was probably in 8th grade and we ended off on good terms.
I don’t really have social media anymore, so I have no clue how Amy is doing now but if I could meet up with her again I would. I do care about her afterall she was my first best friend.
