BFFs for Life

As we get older, our world gradually shrinks.  First it is the grandparents that you may not have known so well.  Then, eventually your parents and your significant other's parents.  Your siblings and friends from school start to die.  And with each death, your circle gets smaller.  Maybe you realize that people who took for granted are no longer here.  You can't just pick up the phone for an hour long chat after not talking for months.

I grew up on the grounds of a state mental hospital in NC.  It happened that there were a lot of kids also growing up there, many in my age group.  The first house we lived in was in a row of five houses that were bounded by Highway581 on one side and the Little River on the other.  As little kids, we had to stay more or less in those boundaries.  Kathy Hooks lived with her family in the house closest to the river.  I lived in the second house from 581.  Predictably, Kathy and I became friends.  She is pictured above with me and five of my siblings.