Childhood Friends

When we first moved to the US when i was 5 years old, we lived in a little complex of 5-6 bungalows in a city called Gardena. There was a family next door to us who had moved here from Japan, with a little girl my age named Saori. Although we really couldn't understand one another because she spoke Japanese and I spoke Chinese, we quickly became good friends, and eventually speaking our own secret language that was a mix of Chinese, Japanese, Taiwanese and English. No one else really understood it except the two of us, plus my little sister Cindy who was only 3 and struggled to keep up with us.

Those two years in Gardena were some of my fondest childhood memories as we rode our bikes around and around the cul-de-sac and when our landlord was selling the complex and we were forced to move out, our families found two bungalows next to each other so us kids can be together. 

I remember being riveted by Saori's beautiful mom dress up in her kimono and performing the traditional Japanese dance for us, I remember chasing each other around and around on our bikes, and playing at each other's houses until either Saori's mom or my Grandma yelled out the front door that it was time to go home for dinner. My grandma still loves to recount the time when Cindy kept biting Saori on the arm, and she would make Cindy apologize to Saori while Saori's mom, kept admonishing her own daughter for doing something to make Cindy want to bite her. LOL. Yes. Cindy was a biter of the worst kind.

When my sister and I were 7 and 5, we moved to Diamond Bar and lost touch with Saori's family. The years passed, but sometimes my grandma and I would reminisce about Saori and all the fun we had. She was my childhood best friend, but in my memories.

When I became a mommy, I started seeing the world through Avery's eyes. Avery and our next door neighbors' daughter Kate are 11 months apart just like Saori and I. When I watch the two of them hug and kiss each other and play together, it reminds me of when I used to play with Saori. And so I asked my Dad what Saori's last name was, which he told me, and out of the blue i started searching for her on Facebook and got one hit, in Gardena. My first message to her was as follows:

Subject: are you from Gardena?


Hello! I'm Ruby, I'm looking for a friend from LOOOONGG time ago when I lived in Gardena. I moved away to Diamond Bar when I was 7 and she was 6, i think. Her name is Saori so I thought I'd see if you were her! 

Didn't really expect a reply this quickly, but within a day, i got a response:


Saori: Ruby???? From next door?? You have a little sister Cindy and we all had white polar bear stuffed animals.....Is it really you?? I visited you in Diamond bar once or twice after you moved. This is going to sound REALLY crazy but my parents and I were JUST talking about you and they were wondering how u were doing!!! 

Haha! Behold the power of Facebook. We found each other at long last! It had to be her. What are the chances that she even remembered me, much less my sister and our stuffed polar bears, Lily and Katy? hehe

So after a long wait, we invited their family over to my parents house where we had a tearful reunion and sat down for dinner, taking about old days and meeting a new family member, Avery! It was so much fun!

Good times!

Funny how some people are just meant to be friends. Technically we were only friends for 2 years, and then having a solid 23 years of life experienced before meeting again. But it was like nothing changed, and we chatted like old friends, catching up on life after we moved and up til now. 

Saori's family keeps saying that I look exactly the same as I did at 5 years old, but you know, as an adult. Really? I guess maybe. But they really didn't see me in my awkward pre-pubescent chubby years.

A couple months later, this past weekend, Saori came and visited us at our house so we can continue our catching up. Avery and her hit it off like old friends too!

Ridiculous. Look at that face. I ask her to show her teeth now and this is what I get. Don't overdo it honey, sheesh.

Auntie Saori stayed through Avery's bedtime, and read Avery her favorite book, Goodnight Moon.

 

When you read that book to her, she immediately grabs a seat in her chair "Avery sit down", "chair", and as you read each page, she will point out everything on the page "Chair", "bears" "cow" "moon", "house", "mouse", "mush" "spoon" as if she was the one reading it. And usually you end up having to read it around 3 or 4 times back to back before she is satisfied.

Kate is going to move away soon, as her family is growing and they need more space. This makes me sad, although I agree with the decision, and they broke it to us gently over the course of a year so that I don't freak out. lol. I'm ok with it, because they're not going outside the city limits. hehe

"It takes a long time to grow an old friend"  -John Leonard