From my earliest memory of friends, I rarely had just one best friend. I was almost always a member of a threesome, and they came with all the problems threesomes do. Being in a military family the first three years of schooling did not help boost my friendships, and neither did living in a military community for the rest of my school years. So not only did I have the threesome dilemma, but I also had friends leaving me all the time. Some kids adapt well to these things. I wasn't one of them.

Kindergarten, we hadn't moved yet. I don't remember anybody from this time. I don't remember much about Kindergarten except being told I couldn't color a girl's hair blue. My reply, some people do have blue hair. I really thought people had hair the color of Crayola blue. Little did I know it was a vision. Hee.

My first grade year was on Guam. Most of the time, I played with a boy a couple houses away. James and I used to play Wonder Woman together. He wanted to be Wonder Woman too. Sometimes we argued over who got to be Wonder Woman. Sometimes we just had two. Being six is great. We found some discarded pieces of cable wire, and that was our magic lasso. The trees were our invisible jets. I always wonder where James is now. He was a good friend. I'd look for him if I knew his last name. I would imagine he would remember Guam as well as I do. It's hard to forget earthquakes and typhoons.

Second grade was in Las Vegas. I went to two different schools while there. The one I remember most was the site of my first threesome friendship. I don't even remember their names. Second grade was hard on me. I was in a combined class of second and third graders, and I was often doing the third grade work, because I was "gifted." Being smart doesn't make you really good friendship material. Neither does scaring your friends in the bathroom playing Bloody Mary. How could I know I'd be so convincing? At home, I played with a girl across the street who seemed to have eternal snot plugs in her nose. She also had a little brother who stuffed his own poop up our hose. Disgusting behavior obviously ran in the family. Never being a good judge of character and desperate for someone to play with, we got along great. You do what you have to when you're seven.

Third grade brought me back to Nebraska. I remember being the new kid here most of all. I wasn't in a class made up entirely of military kids. Some of those kids had been friends for a while. My friendship with Tauni began here, as did a pretty close friendship with a boy named Eddie.

The well bonded friendships were what I found at home too where Beth and Lisa were best friends, and I was a new addition. This was the most imbalanced of threesomes with me always going to their house to get them to play and not being asked to go places with them. They used me for my really cool Barbie Motor Home as we got older, and Lisa got first choice from Beth's old Mad magazines. They were both older than me too, so I was less mature and sometimes like a pesky younger sister. We were pretty good friends though until we got older and our other school friendships with kids our age took over. I was always the third wheel though. I don't fault them now, but it sure hurt sometimes back then.

And so it goes on the bottom floor of the elementary school. Next time, I move to the second floor!