We met our mini-me's!

Cathy and I had a bit of a surreal experience tonight.

Nah, not really, but go with me on this.

We were out walking our usual route when we passed a blonde and a brunette, probably about 13 years old. They said hi, we said hi, and as soon as they were out of earshot, Cathy said, "Look! That's us!"

I mean...we're blonde and brunette. But this is deeper. Both our minds immediately flashed back 25 years. (Holy crap...has it been that long??)

(And this is the value of lifelong friends.)

Did I mention I live right around the corner from where I grew up? Literally. We moved into my mom's house when I was 7. Four years ago I moved into a house in the same neighborhood. Cathy now lives five minutes up the road. So we walk together just about every night on the very same streets we walked on as kids.

I met Cathy on the school bus when I was in eighth grade. I think we were about 12 or 13. She lived across the highway from me. We couldn't drive, so we walked everywhere. When I say we walked, I mean we spent hours combing every street in a about a three mile radius. Maybe it was five miles. But we spent whole afternoons walking and talking. Sometimes singing. (There wasn't a dry eye on the street after our rendition of Lisa Lisa's All Cried Out. Or at least the woman walking her dog liked it...so she said.)

There really wasn't anything else to do. I mean, there was Nintendo, but we weren't rich enough to own one and we didn't care anyway. Headbangers Ball didn't come on until 11 p.m., but I only watched it when I spent the night with her. We were too old to ride bikes, too young to drive, and boys and music were our main interests. Oh, and hairspray. I never mastered the pouf, but she made me look awesome whenever we went to T.P. Cruisers, a teen nightclub.

Now we walk for exercise...and girl talk.

Don't tell my daughter this, but half of our reason for walking was scouting for cute boys. The other half was talking about our friends. I don't remember if we ever actually met boys on our walks, but we sure had fun looking. Back then, we collected car honks like dropped pennies. Now we get offended, especially if the car clearly has no air and noisy exhaust. Although if we're honest, we do have to admit that there is a slight elevation in ego whenever we hear one.

Once we sat on a curb and watched a house for at least a half an hour because we heard somebody playing drums. Drums meant cute boys, right? We got tired of waiting, so we never found out.

We saw our mini-me's coming out of the gas station carrying a bag, and fought the urge to run back and ask them if they remembered the sweet gherkins, pepperoni and cheese puffs. I'm pretty sure Shell doesn't carry sparking grape juice, so they really should have gone to Food Lion. I mean, to get the full experience, you have to pass the faux wine bottle back and forth and pretend it's the stuff you're not old enough to drink. It's all about fooling the drivers on the highway!

*Sigh* Good times, good times. I can't find but one picture of me and Cathy together back in the day. I'll have to ask her if she has any. But here is the one I do have, dated Sept. 3, 1988. It was her birthday, and we were heading to T.P. Cruisers.

Cathy's the blonde in the back, second from left. I'm standing next to her, wearing acid washed jeans and that 80s white belt.

This is the same night. I think she took the picture. Cathy dressed me. I don't think my hair has ever been that big! I'm in the middle. OH...and if you look real closely at my right leg, you can see I rolled my jeans halfway up my calf. "Cuz I was cool like that!

And here we are now (or, in January), with Cathy's BFF Jennifer.

 The good Lord willing, in 25 years we'll be talking about today as the "good ol' days" while we eat sweet gherkins and cheese puffs. Dang, I want some now!