Everyone Needs a Leslie

When I was about 4 years old, my family moved into a little house on a corner. It was so tiny that my brother and I shared a bedroom... actually, as I remember it,

 it was a set of bunk beds assembled in a walk in closet.

 I remember riding my big wheel one day (that dates me doesn't it...lol) and this older boy next door stopped me by grabbing the handle bars and in a very intimidating way informing me that he expected me to be good friends with his little sister.

 Little did I know that his intimidation tactic would be one of the best things to ever happen to me.

Leslie and I have been friends as far back as I can remember
 (for 40 something years now) 

and we have had some grand adventures!

Her family owned a store in the town we grew up in and the upstairs of the store was an old abandoned hotel that spanned the upstairs of several of the local businesses.
We used to go up into this old abandoned part of the building....
 at night....on purpose.... for fun.

 It was really scary at night because of some of the stories that her mom had shared with us.

 (Her mom tells GREAT ghost stories...hahaha).

Sometimes we would take other people up in the top of the hotel and relate these stories. Her little brother was our silent partner in crime and would hide somewhere with an empty fire extinguisher... 

If you have never tried to use an empty fire extinguisher, it makes such a horrible noise, that, when you are in an old, creepy, abandoned hotel... at night... with flashlights...
you can easily convince your unsuspecting friends, is the sound of pigeons being murdered....hahaha...LOL! 

(Disclaimer: Even though there were pigeons flying around inside the building, no actual pigeons were harmed in scaring the crap out of our friends!!!)

Her family also owned a haunted house that had not been lived in since the early 1940's....

 I kid you not!!!!

 So we used to take friends out to Dingle... 

... to tour the haunted house

.... at night!

(yes, this would be the same Dingle that I talked about in my earlier post about the Popo!

... see that post for a picture of the Ream Mansion)

The house has a sandstone facade that is wired to the house
(or so I remember it being explained to me)
 and when the wind blows, it sings on the wires.....
creepy, whining noises, that sound like ghosts!

This house was overgrown with bushes, had broken windows, lots of bats inside and there was still old furniture in it, as if the ghosts needed a place to sit in the parlor! 

Oh, and in the cellar under the house, there were turkey incubators and LOTS of hooks hanging from the beams. You can only imagine the tales we told when we showed this to our friends...

in the dark...with flashlights... hehehe! 

It didn't take much imagination to  really freak people out.

One time we loaded up about 10 people in her old '69 Cadillac DeVille 

(some had to ride the 8 miles to the boonies in the trunk of the car...hahaha)

and headed out to Dingle to take them on a tour of the Ream Mansion. Somehow her little brother ended up hiding in the house, with that empty fire extinguisher.

This was about the same time that all of the "too-stupid-to-live" movies like
 Friday the 13th were popular. 

 I don't recall all the events that happened,

 (I think it was so scary that I have blocked it out...

or I am just getting old enough that I am experiencing mentalpause....!!!),

 but I remember that somehow we ended up huddled upstairs... in a closet...

 because we scared the crap out of OURSELVES!!!! 

REALLY???? 

Note to self: if you cruising around a haunted house, at night, in the dark and something scares you....

don't run UPSTAIRS (where there is only one way back out)
and hide in a closet (with no windows)!!!

DUH!!!

After what seemed like hours (it was probably more like 5 minutes...lol), 

we mustered the courage to run for our lives!

We were so convincing in our stories that I would often have this re-occurring nightmare about our many  adventures in the old hotel, the Ream Mansion and even a few at the cemetery!!! 

As a side note: Leslie and her parents have since purchased the "haunted house" and are in the process of fixing it up. It has been fun to watch the progress and I often giggle at the irony that she now owns the house that scared the bejeezus out of us!

For our senior prom, we wore dresses that belonged to her mother and her aunt...

(they were like 30 years old).... we LOVED being different! 

This must have been where my passion for antique stuff started!

Leslie has a more quiet reserved personality which was a perfect balance for my more adventurous personality. We were total opposites... 

Leslie kept my feet on the ground and pointed in the right direction (and kept me from being grounded many times..haha). My mom would let me do pretty much anythnig... if I was with Leslie.
She has such a sweet spirit and I will always be grateful for the example she was to me growing up (and still is)
 and for the open door that her parents had in always making me feel welcome in their home...

especially during a time of much turmoil in my own home.

It's kind of like that story about the man walking on the beach, picking up starfish and tossing them back in the water. A stranger observed his behavior and asked him why he bothered because he couldn't possibly make a difference since there were so many starfish stranded on the beach as the tide went out. The man picked one up and tossed it in the water and said to the stranger...

"I made a difference to that one"

It scares me to think how different my life would likely have turned out if Leslie hadn't been there to make a difference to me!

It has always been a prayer of mine that my kids would have a "Leslie" in their lives... someone to be that influence and example of good... and help them make good choices. 

At the same time, I have always tried to encourage my kids to be someone's "Leslie" and to be that example and  positive influence to the people around them. 

I truly believe that we formed bonds with people in the pre-existence and when we find those people here on earth, we immediately recognize the familiarity of those eternal friendships....

and as the years go by and miles separate us, we still feel that friendship in our hearts.

I am so lucky to have found a few of these eternal friends!