When I look back across my life, you are still there. Sixty-three years, buttery crackers, one roller coaster—and a childhood sport called “Wagonning” that our mothers thankfully knew nothing about.
© Laurie Pace Graphics One Design 2026 "A Friend is a friend forever" Song by Michael W. Smith When I Look Back Across My Life, You Are Still There Some friendships begin before we have any idea who we're going to become. Mine began at Lake Highlands Junior High School more than sixty years ago. We knew each other's families, houses, dreams—and occasionally far too much about each other's childhood adventures. My best girlfriend was Janet—J.J. to me. She loved the buttery crackers my mother kept at our house, and together we invented something we called Wagonning. We had baby brothers about eleven or twelve years younger than we were. When we decided they were sufficiently sturdy, we put them in red wagons, climbed in behind them and raced down one of our steep Lake Highlands hills. The objective? Try not to kill our baby brothers. They loved it. Our mothers never knew. Sixty-three years later, I could probably say one word to J.J.—Wagonning—and she ...