Tears and Laughter: The girls of Sandflat

Growing up, Cindy was one of those friends who had been my friend for so long that I cannot think back to when we first met. We both lived in Sandflat, and I moved to Sandflat when I was four, so it had been a while. But when we became teenagers her house, being centrally located between us all, became the gathering spot for several years.

Cindy had a welcoming personality. She was genuinely friendly and wanted everyone to feel welcome and included. Her family was also one of the first families in Sandflat to have satellite television. This was back when the dish was about six foot in diameter and took up a fair amount of space in the yard. If your family adopted one of these big babies, a certain amount of popularity came with it because you couldn’t hide it.

Several of us might not ever had known what MTV was if it hadn’t been for Cindy. Watching music videos is how most of us learned to dance. And I remember one night we were up late flipping channels after a softball game. We were having peanut butter and saltine crackers with a couple of Pepsi’s, when we rolled across an adult movie channel. We stopped for only a pause, because it was clear and we could see. Cindy plopped down her saltine and quickly turned it back to MTV. We laughed about it, but then each agreed we would probably both definitely be getting married one day.

It wasn’t long at after that before certain channels were scrambled. Evidently not all kids up late were turning back quickly to MTV. We figured that was because they didn’t have daddies like ours. The two had served in the National Guard together and knew one another well.

Another thing Cindy and I had in common is we both had red hair and the fair skin that comes with it. We spent a great part of our summers oiled down with Hawaiian Tropic tanning oil. It was before sunblock became popular or recommended. Neither of our daddies felt it appropriate for us to lay out in the front yard, but we spent countless hours sprawled out on a quilt in the backyard, listening to Q101 out of Meridian, Mississippi. We talked the days away, planning our futures that seemed too far away to ever come true. Neither of us ever got a tan.

We also spent a fair amount of time sharing a mirror. This has always been a pastime of young girls I suppose. Volume was important in the 80’s. It took time, a curling iron, and the right hairspray.

Once we got our hair full enough, one of our mamas would drive us to the Thomasville Theater. We had them both trained to be quick and cool about it. To just stop the car, let us out, and move it along – to not be hollering back asking if we thought we needed a sweater.

Just like I can’t remember the first time we met, I can’t remember the last time we saw one another. It would have been 1988, but I don’t remember us saying good-bye. I just moved away. In all our talk about the future, we had never thought of it going any other way for either of us than our summer daydreams had planned.

We talked last week for the first time in 28 years. I think we both felt good to have found one another happy and healthy. That is the best friends can hope for one another. It just seems like in looking back…the future really didn’t take that very long after all.

Amanda Walker is a columnist with The West Alabama Watchman, Al.com, The Thomasville Times, and The Wilcox Progressive Era. For more information, visit her on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/AmandaWalker.Columnist.