My Best Friend - Then and Now... Part 1

I liked her pigtails. It was that simple. She was sitting in the corner by herself - the new kid - wearing bright pink oshkosh overalls and a pink, purple, and green striped shirt. But it was her hair that I really noticed. She had the most beautiful long, blonde, cornsilk pigtails that ended in curls. Being the daughter of a tomboy who never played with dolls and never learned to fix hair, I was envious. I hated my hair...dark brown, chopped off at the ears, with uneven, unruly bangs that separated into a V in the middle. I just had to talk to the girl with the pigtails. Her name was "JJ" and we played together on the playground. We discovered that since we were almost identical in height and weight, we could sit level, perfectly balanced on the teeter totter at recess. Well that sealed the deal. We were meant to be friends. Through the end of 2nd grade and all through third, we were inseparable. She's the first person I ever called on the telephone. The first person I ever wrote notes to, or rode home from school with. She was more than a friend, we were sisters. We signed letters like everyone else at the time... "Lylas" (love ya like a sister). Only we meant it. And then came the horrible summer after third grade...and many tears.