On the first day of first grade, a new girl got on the bus. She was brown-eyed and brown-haired just like me and dressed in a red and white dress. I knew right then that she was my friend. I was right--for more than 35 years now.
I keep reading about twins research that indicates that parenting has little effect on adult personality or outcomes for their children. The research says that about 50% of what makes up your personality, you were born with. The other roughly 50% of influence is chance and your childhood peers. I owe my childhood peers alot.
My childhood peer group changed a little over time like most do, but Amy was there from first grade on. We rode the school bus together and had spats like little kids do. Then we would race to the playground and play victim so other friends would agree with us. I learned to be fast. We played "king of the mountain" after school behind the old community building at 4-H meetings and we camped by the creek on the farm. Older, we talked about boys, teachers, friends, and everything else. Sometimes, we spent more time with other people, but Amy was a mooring for me.
Amy is as good of a person as you can imagine: helpful, giving, and kind. She is amazingly strong, yet she has a wicked sense of humor and is not afraid to clown around with little kids, old folks, and peers alike. She found her calling as a nurse and her patients are better off for it.
As we got older I moved away. Careers, babies, husbands, life happened. I try to see Amy each summer I go home. This summer her oldest daughter married and I was unprepared for the emotion of the wedding. Amy was a champ: giggling and joyful, yet calm and collected.
I am grateful for the 50% of influence Amy and my childhood peers had on my upbringing. Were it not for that foundation, entrepreneurship would not have been nearly so manageable or nearly so funny.
Thanks Amy.
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