LaLaGirl – Twinfinite Chaos! Parenting Multiples and Dealing with Autism

(Actually, Audra found her for me!)

I’m so excited and happy! I’ve spent the past fourteen years or so trying to find my best friend Stephanie from elementary and middle school. We were SO tight growing up, until she moved away. She actually moved up here to the city I live in now – we lived in LaJunta growing up. Even after she moved away, we spent lots of weekends together during the summer because I spent the summers up here at my grandparents’ house.

I first tried to find her in 1994 when I was getting married and then again in 1995 when Kayley was born. I found her dad’s phone number – he’s a state trooper – and called him. I knew he’d remember me, because even though her parents were divorced even when we were kids, Stephanie and I spent quite a bit of time out at his house. When I talked to him, he said, “I haven’t seen Stephanie in over ten years.” I was so shocked to hear that and it caught me completely off guard and I said, “Wow, I’m so sorry!” and he said, “I’m not!” and hung up on me! The dick!

I kept hitting dead end after dead end! Well, it finally occurred to me to look her up online on the Colorado Marriages database – so once I did that and found out the name of the guy she married, I knew her new last name, and that made things much easier! Audra actually found her address for me on the property assessor’s page, just a few days ago. Once I had her address, I wrote her a little letter – kept it light, not all, “Hi, I’m stalking you!” and crossed my fingers and dropped it in the mail. She emailed me as soon as she got my letter! I swear, when I saw her email, I jumped up and down and clapped and everything! Hehe!

So I called her last night! We talked for at least half an hour! It was SOOOO wonderful and weird and awkward and funny and cool and just amazing to talk to her for the first time in twenty years!

I told her how I’d tried to get in touch about 12 years ago and talked to her dad and how he’d hung up on me, and she said, “Yeah, I call my father The Rat Bastard. He’s just not a nice person. We don’t talk at all.” I’m guessing the last time I saw Stephanie was right around the last time her dad saw her, too.

And I found out something sad – her little sister, who was about four years younger than us or so – just young enough to annoy the crap out of us, but we played with her every day – well, she died in a car accident here two years ago. She rolled her car and died and left behind two little boys. Stephanie said they’re at her house all the time. And Stephanie has a 7-year-old boy, too. She said she just loves doing the stay-at-home mama thing. And I’m so thrilled that she’s living that life, because she and her sisters were total latch-key kids, from an early EARLY age. Like, younger than Kayley, and watching a 5-year-old, and having to fix their own dinner and shit.

It was so fun to talk to her! She goes, “Remember our time capsule we made?” I’d forgotten all about that! We made this dorky little time capsule and “buried” it in the back of my dad’s shed. I opened it up after she moved away, though. And she remembered all these funny little things, like my mom sitting at the motel with a cigarette in one hand and a smut novel in the other, and my dad walking around in his coveralls every day, and our little pomeranian, Cayenne.

Oh, and I almost cracked up when she was telling me how once she drove around Wheat Ridge trying to remember where my grandparents’ house was, and how she told her husband, “I’d swear on a whole stack of bibles it’s right around here somewhere!” I’ve never really known anyone else who used that phrase, but she said it when we were kids, too! It took me right back to 1983!

I can’t wait to see her in person! We have so much catching up to do, yet. I don’t know when we’re going to get to hang out; probably not for a few weeks because we both have a lot going on, but…I can’t wait until we do! Whee! She just lives in Arvada! I mean, it’s the other side of town, but considering she might as well have lived on the other side of the planet all these years, I’ll take it!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Random LaLa Goodness

• January 9, 2008 -- This is why people stop having sex.
• September 22, 2006 -- Feelin’ Fine.
• November 28, 2007 -- Custom Holiday Cards!
• July 16, 2007 -- I’m such a bad wife.
• January 2, 2008 -- Back to the grind!