Speaking of characters...

Isn't it interesting that as I am writing a series of blogs on characters, a big character emails me pics of a group of my high school classmates - including himself.

Todd Pellett, Jeff Becker, Kirk Wickman, Jack Bunce, Roger Underwood met up in NYC recently where they all dressed like CEOs

That person is Roger Underwood of course. I didn't know Rog until we reached Junior High School in Atlantic, Iowa. That's where all the presidents (the elementary schools in town are named after Washington, Lincoln and Jackson) spewed forth the kids to come together into one student body. He was in Mrs. Royalty's reading class with me.

I took notice of Roger when I heard he was going to be a big brother. He was the youngest kid in the family. How embarrassing! Cuz we were like 13 years old, and I knew where babies came from at that point. Golly. Roger's mother eventually gave birth to Roger's brother Jeff - and the family was complete. I got over the trauma of thinking about where babies come from.

I think Roger must have been one of those kids who was born a grown up. You know the type - they can act silly and have fun, but even then they seem a bit more mature than the average kid. They converse well with adults and seem to have a plan for everything.

It turned out pretty well for Roger - after a successful four year stint at Iowa State University (he served as my roomie Sally's campaign chair for her successful run for Student Senate), he started a company with another classmate Jeff Becker. The company grew and grew until the two eventually sold it. I think they're members of the idle rich class now - but the seem to keep pretty busy with other businesses they dabble in. Roger likes to wear bow ties. He's married to Connie and they have a couple sons that are in their early 20's.

Seeing the guys in the photo really takes me back. In my opinion, I grew up in the "Wonder Years". A big group of girls and a large group of boys - in about sixth grade we began to notice each other. We started to rendezvous on weekends - to "play football" in the fall. Silly me, I really wanted to play football. I hadn't yet been struck by the hormone stick. Some of my friends had - they were all about flirting figuring out who liked whom. I wanted to run plays and score touchdowns (the football kind). Such a simple girl.

We had a lot of slumber parties during those years. Our poor parents - 12 screaming girls for a whole night? And guess what - the boys would usually have slumber parties the same nights we did. Coincidence? I think not. We often found a way to get together at least part of the night. I think it drove poor Anne Wickman (Kirk's mother) crazy - the whole girls after her son thing.

One time at Sherry Smith's party, the boys actually came in for a while. Greg Parker lived nearby and he had a houseful of guys. I think Betty and Ralph Smith got a kick of it. I remember getting to ride Robin Kautz's mini-bike in that neighborhood too. My parents would have freaked had they known.

I was oblivious as to how lucky I was to have:
a. such a big group of friends
b. a bunch of guys interested in hanging out with me and my friends
c.  parents that were willing to put up with our antics - slumber parties, schlepping around town to meet up with guys to "play football"
Today, at a ripe old age, I realize how blessed I was.

When we got a bit older we even started sneaking out to meet the boys. I mean um those other girls did that... not me Mom...it was all those boys' faults.