surge, skating rinks and a friendship that rocked a small town.

It’s late, I’m in the bed and on the verge of falling into a deep sleep…so if there are misspelled words, run on sentences or just plain weird stuff in this post…forgive me  :)    In honor of my best friend Courtney’s birthday (November 9th) and my birthday (November 10th), I decided to take a little stroll down memory lane with my bestie.  She came down to last month and we hit up Disney World to celebrate our birthdays, being 28 years old and fabulous…well, we like to think we’re fabulous 

Here’s a little backstory…..get ready, i can tell this is gonna be a long one…too many memories.  But stick with me..there’s a special video at the end  :)

• We met on the playground at Anderson Elementary in the third grade.  There was a girl on the swings and an empty swing next to her just calling my name.  The rest is history…….
• We discussed many important things that first day into our friendship.  Like what our favorite color was, our favorite song, who our teacher was, if we liked nap time, what kind of lunch box we carried…..but then we realized that our birthdays were only one day apart….thus the double birthday party planning began.
• The Aloha Skating Rink in Booneville, MS was the place to be on Friday, November 9^th 1990.  Bright strobe and disco light painted the carpeted walls of the rink.  We were BFF from that moment on.

• We were in girl scouts together.  She was a good cookie salesgirl.  I sold to my parents and maybe one neighbor
• We played summer league softball together…that was interesting.
• We rocked the duck head shorts, New Kids on the Block t-shirts, braided belts, Teva sandals and socks up to our knees.

don’t laugh, we were so cool….check out the awesome socks and knee brace action below….

• We went to church together for about 10 years or so.  Many mission trips together.
• We worked together as lifeguards at the local park swimming pool.
• Slumber parties galore.
• The first time I ever made a mud pie was in Courtney’s back yard.  She gave the mud a special name….. ”Hope Not DooDoo Mud”.
• We played Power Rangers in her front yard.   She was Kimberly, the pink one.  I was Trini, the yellow one.  “No, I AM Trini.”   Inside joke 
• We stayed up one night drinking Surge and eating Gardettos.  That was one hilarious night full of laughs and dancing to Will Smith’s ‘Getting Jiggy With it’ (Na na na na na na na, na na na na na NA!  you know you’re singing along)  We even tape recorded ourselves.  Surge is like a drug.  Why they ever sold that at our school is beyond me.
• Went on an adventure behind her house (ONCE).  we saw vulchers overhead, immediately looked at one another and ran back home as fast as our chicken legs could go never venturing out that far again.
• We rolled (toilet papered) my own house one time…just for practice for the upcoming yard rolling season.
• Once we decided to walk on her pond when it was covered with ice….we sprinkled table salt on top of the ice to make it safer…um, yeah.  Dumb.
• We put about a million miles on my first car…..the trusty, tricked out Intrepid.  Many nights spent at Sonic and riding the strip….we were the bomb.com
• We realized we could sing duets together and sing ‘em we did!  Beauty pageants, church and the car is where we belted out the notes to many songs.
• At Courtney’s house on the fireplace hearth, there was this big ceramic monkey.…that thing haunted my dreams.
• We played the same instrument in the band….oh yeah.
• When I’d make the drive out to Courtney’s house, the drive that I could make blindfolded b/c I drove it so many times, I’d pull into the driveway and sit.  I’d sit and wait for someone in Courtney’s family to come outside and grab Bootsie (the dog) so I could walk into the house instead of diving through the front door in fear for my life.
• We listened to music like New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Boys to Men, Mariah Carey, Alanis Morrisette, No Doubt, Backstreet Boys…the list is so long…oh, i can’t leave out Jock Jams, the best!
• Courtney got Most Likely to Succeed our senior year…she now has her doctorate in Audiology.   I got Lady of the Class…..ummmm.
• We were Tiger Dancers together…GOOOO……FIGHT…….WIN!!!  da da da da da da  YEAH!!!!  If you went to any Northeast football games, you know the cheer….
• We talked about boys a lot.  Too much…it wasn’t normal how much we gabbed about boys.  We had issues.
• We would sing Alanis Morrisette’s “Ironic” at the top of our lungs in front of my mirror which, I have to say, was covered with Hanson memorabilia.    I was cool.
• There’s a video out there somewhere of our third grade bday party….it’s hilarious, wish I could show you.  Crimped hair, reeboks, turtlenecks and sweatshirts, acid wash jeans, aqua netted bangs….and the girls were even worse!
• We got pulled over by the cops multiple times…BUT we never ever got a ticket.  Probably because Courtney’s dad was a big time highway patrolman….we knew how to cheat the system 
• I used to drag Courtney out on double dates with me.  She was such a trooper.  This one time a guy asked me out to the movies but my parents would only let me go if more people went.  SO I asked the guy to bring along his hot friend for Courtney.  She was a hot ninth grader so she needed a hot date…made total sense!  He told me he would bring his hot friend (i won’t disclose any names, ha!).   Of course he shows up with someone, how do I say this nicely….ummm, different?  We’ll call him Dorky McDorkerson ;)   Not a good thing.  BUT my bestie soldiered through it.   It was a horrible date for both of us….Ahhh memories.   That happened more than once with lots of different boys of all different stereotypes  ;)
• She went to Ole Miss after Northeast.  I went to Mississippi State.  That was no fun.
• Courtney used to doodle these little creatures on her notebooks, she called them doodlywops…..I still doodle the doodlywops.
• We used to be obsessed with Days of Our Lives the soap opera.  Remember Susan?  The evil Stefano brought Susan to Salem where she impersonated Kristen, John Black’s soon to be wife.  (as if you didn’t know that already!!!) Well, Susan wore false teeth, a head full of nappy hair and talked with this horribly nasal and whiny voice…Courtney can impersonate that crazy woman perfectly….to the point that it would scare me to death….she’d get to the point where she couldn’t stop the impersonation.
• On our first day of our senior year we had a parade where we’d write on everyone’s cars with shoe polish and roll up into school in one long line.  The writing on our cars said things like “Senior Class Rules” and “Go Blue Devils”.  However,  Courtney’s said “Senors”.  Yes mis amigos, senors.  I’ve got a photo of that somewhere.  We inserted an “I” as best we could but for a few minutes she made our Spanish teacher proud.
• This one December in 2004, I had been through a horrible break up with a current boyfriend and Courtney was there for me like you wouldn’t believe.  I was a depressed wreck and she knew exactly what to say and do.  She called me one night and said “Rebecca, you need to get on the facebook…it’s this new thing that’s so cool.”  This was 2004-early 2005 when facebook was brand new.  I was like “Courtney, I’m not a nerd and I don’t need to meet people on the internet..that’s scary.”   She eventually convinced me to join the facebook (It was called “The Facebook” back then).  Well lo and behold guess who I meet (I should say re-met…I had some classes with him a year or so prior to my joining facebook)….it was Brandon.  Yep, I owe my entire marriage to my bff Courtney forcing me to join The Facebook…the best gift she ever gave me.

Courtney, I have no idea where I’d be had I never joined you on the swings that day in third grade.  You are the epitome of a best friend.

we’re here, we’re weird and we’re not going away….;)

oh and we made a video…oh yes friends, there’s a video….

cp and rd first video from rebecca dodson on Vimeo.