FIRECRACKERS

Marcia Norwood
America's STORYTELLER
Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking

FIRECRACKERS

Copyright 2009

By Mary Marcia Lee Norwood

She introduces me as her Oldest and Dearest Friend.

I brag that we were Friends-In-Utero.  

Actually it was our dads who knew each other before we were born. Our moms met in the hospital.  They shared the same room.

From Left:  Marcia in her mom's arms.(Natalie wears ruffles.)  Debbie's Mom, Edith, in polka-dots.  Copyright 1949 Marcia Norwood

The first picture in my baby book is a black and white photo of my mom and her mom sitting side by side on a bed at Lakeside Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri; each holding their newborn baby girls.   Her complexion was fair and her hair was light.  My complexion was olive and my hair was dark.

She is older than I am . . .  by four days. She was born July 1.   I was born July 5.  Both of us: 1949 Firecrackers, who grew up in a town named Liberty.  

thegraphicsfairy.com

  

thegraphicsfairy.com

I am blessed to have an archive of our friendship…thanks to Mom's journal entries and  photos,  preserved in my baby book. My "First Call" (visit) when I was twelve days old… was to her house.   

We shared the same black, canvas baby buggy while our moms went for walks  around the public square in Liberty, Missouri.   Our moms wore dresses, as it was not acceptable for them to wear anything else during their summer strolls in 1949.  She says she remembers me sucking on her big toe.

We were five and one-half months old on our “First Christmas” in 1949.  She gave me bath toys and balloons.  We exchanged gifts on holidays and birthdays. She brought me cologne and an atomizer on my fourth birthday: and two pairs of panties on my fifth.  We loved being girls - even at four and five years old!

Marcia's Birthday Party.  Copyright 1954 Marcia Norwood

 The commemorative plate on my wall of the (now demolished) Liberty Methodist Church is a reminder of our days together in Sunday School and church.  We earned pins for perfect attendance in Sunday School.  My pins are now stored carefully on a ribbon in the bottom drawer of my jewelry box. 

The First Day of School in 1954, we posed for pictures under the replica of the Statue of Liberty at Franklin Elementary School. We danced together around the May Pole (1955) in Miss Burnham's and Mrs. Cox's Kindergarten class.

We learned to read in Miss Yancey's 1st Grade class  (1955-56).  

Debbie is front row in polka-dot dress.  Marcia is to the left of the teacher (Miss Yancey) wearing ruffled dress and white socks and shoes. 

 

We had Mrs. Kirkland for 2nd Grade (1956-57).  One of us (I can't remember which one) fell down a ravine as we walked home from school.  One needed to be rescued.  The other one did the rescuing. 

We ventured out of the school building without chaperones while in Mrs. Ballew's 3rd Grade class  (1957-58).   Our mothers wrote special notes so we could "do lunch"  at the one and only  hamburger place across the street from Franklin Elementary.  No  cheeseburger, fries and chocolate malt ever tasted so good!  We were the envy of the entire class...or so we thought. 

Things changed in Liberty in 1958.  For the first time the Liberty Public Schools were integrated.  Along with all the other 4th Grade students...we were sent to Garrison School, a former school for "colored" people.   

For the first time... the Firecrackers were not in class together.  She joined the Flying Blue Bird Troupe.  I was a Sunny Blue Bird.  

 

We both made new friends who were not carbon copies of ourselves.

In the Summer of 1959, we went off to Camp Fire Girl Camp.  To this day - we both can still belt out a hearty rendition of  the Camp Shawnee theme song.

"We're from Camp Shawnee,

Shawnee are we!

Singing together...

Right merrily.

And now that we are together...

Happy are we.

C - A - M - P   Shawnee

Double - e!

Rah! Rah! Rah!"

We were growing up. 

Our friendship survived.

Before we attended 5th Grade at Ridgeview School (1959-1960)...my mother had "The Talk" with me.  She told me about changes that would soon happen to my body; about menstrual cycles; and how married people made babies.  I could hardly believe it!  

"You mean to tell me that you and Dad have done that four times?"  

I was the eldest of four children.  I didn’t say I was the smartest.

Mom cautioned me to keep the information to myself. 

Immediately I walked to my best friend's house and spilled my guts.

She thought the entire matter was gross.  She asked her mom if it was true.

"Honey, that may have been how some children are born," her mom said, "but I can guarantee you that Daddy and I did not do that to get you and your brother."

Her mom lied.  She also called my mom. 

We started wearing bras and Kotex pads in Junior High School.   We wore bobby-sox with our skirts and  cheerleading outfits and knee-socks with our flannel nightgowns.    We "walked the halls" with our steady boyfriends, and met them at the school sock-hops after the football and basketball games.

We wore dresses, lipstick and  eye shadow to high school. Our skirts could be no shorter than one inch above the knee. In 1963, we turned 16 and passed the test to get our driver's license.  Neither of us had a car.   

Our Liberty Bluejay Varsity Cheerleading Squad earned the Spirit Stick and a First Place ribbon at cheerleading camp at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma.  We learned a pom-pon routine at camp that summer to the Beach Boy's song: "Be True To Your School."

Beach Boys perform:  "BE TRUE TO YOUR SCHOOL"

CLICK on the link or COPY & PASTE the link in your browser:  

http://search.yahoo.com/search?fr=mcafee&type=A111US0&p=be+true+to+your+school+video+beach+boys

She was the Yearbook Queen.  I was the Sweetheart Queen. Throughout high school we went on double-dates:  some to the drive-in movie theater (our boyfriends had cars) and to Prom (1966 and 1967) and Graduation in 1967.    We attended different colleges.  She left for college a week before I did.   Her mom invited me to lunch.  We both missed her terribly.

We voted for the first time in November 3, 1970.  She is a Liberal.  I am a Conservative.

We both were married in 1970.   I was one of her bridesmaids.  She was my Maid of Honor.   

Bride:  Marcia;  Debbie is to the right just behind Marcia.  Copyright 1970 Marcia Norwood

She has lived all around the world.  There have been spaces in our friendship when we would not see each other for months or even years.  And yet when we get back together, we pick up the conversation as if we had never been apart. 

We celebrated our 40th Birthdays on July 4, 1989, and our 25th Wedding Anniversaries in 1995.  We have mourned the death of her mother and my mother and father.

She has two biological, adult children and a son through the miracle of adoption.   I attended the shower for her new son, and secretly thought she must be crazy to have another child "at our age." 

In 1999, and again in 2002, we adopted little girls from China.  She was one of the few who understood.  She wrote a Letter of Recommendation for the  homestudy/dossier for our adoption.

Although it had been a couple of years since we had seen each other...her familiar voice was on my answering machine:  "Hi, Marsh.  It's Deb.  I thought you might need someone to talk to."

We now “talk” on facebook. 

She introduces me as her Oldest-and-Dearest Friend.

I brag that we were Friends-In-Utero.  

Both of us are still  firecrackers…1949 models.

Debbie.  Copyright 2011 Debbie Capra

 

Marcia.  Copyright 2013 Marcia Norwood

Thanks for stopping by!

Come back often, and invite a friend!

Marcia Norwood 

America's STORYTELLER

Telling Untold Stories in Photographs, Prose and Public Speaking