A really easy Friday Five before lunch...

1. Do you remember your first best friend? Who was it? Paul Scarboro. Our fathers were both stationed at Barksdale Air Force Base. I was a year older than he was. He taught me how to whistle. We had all sorts of adventures together. He pulled me from the lake when I fell off a cypress ledge. I got him home when he stepped on a broken bottle and there was blood everywhere. We tried to track down what we thought were marijuana growers in the woods (I'm pretty sure the marijuana was ragweed, but hey, we were 8 and 9 years old. What did we know?) With our friend Kevin we were the 'Three Musketeers'.

2. Are you still in touch with this person? No. His dad retired there in the Shreveport area and they moved away, so we no longer went to the same school or anything.

3. Do you have a current close friend? Yes.

4. How did you become friends with this person? We belonged to same organisation and bonded through common interests despite very different personalities. Dwana and I are developing a pretty close friendship, too. Personality-wise we are very much alike and have some similar experiences although we have fewer common interests.

5. Is there a friend from your past that you wish you were still in contact with? Why? I would love to know how Paul is doing. He was the first person I was every close to. In a way, our time together represents the only bright spot in years of a lot of turmoil. When I think of any time before now when I was at my happiest, it was the time I spent with Paul. We were at an age before crushes, although we were sometimes teased for being together so much. But the funny thing is that I loved Paul, and I still do--or at least I love the Paul I knew. I suppose a part of me is afraid that the person I knew might have changed. Paul had such a wonderful spirit. And I want to know what kind of man he grew up to be.

I'd also like to know how a friend from high school, Deanna Headley is doing. She called me at one point and then we lost contact again, and in retrospect she was at a time in her life where she really needed me, and I think I let her down. I want to make up for that if possible. But I think she may have married--I can't seem to track her down.