Flashback Friday

Today is Friday and Haley always does a Flashback, so I thought that I'd copy her. So here goes. Today, Cheyne and I went down to Home Depot to pick up some sheet rock. While I was checking out, Cole Peck walked in. Cole is the little (younger, I should say) brother, of one of my very best friends in the world - Lari Peck Downs. He told me that Lari's daughter Dallas had just had preemie twins and that his Mother - Janis, is down in St George helping Dallas. You see, Lari passed away with breast cancer a little over two years ago. Just before we turned 50. She told me she never wanted to be 50, and she died in January, 2 months before her 50th birthday. I have been thinking about her alot this past few weeks, and what I would have done, had she not been the person she was, seeing that I desperately needed a friend, and 'acted upon it'.
Lari and I met during my Freshman year of High School.
I had just moved up to Utah during the summer and had lived in Pleasant Grove in my Grandparents (Dodge) home. I had met friends in P.G. and then my mom decided that she wanted to move to Lehi. So... I had to start all over. It's not that I hadn't moved before, but this was an extra hard move, because of my age. I was tall and skinny (believe it or not), my parents were divorced, my Mom was on state welfare, my Dad had spent half of the summer in jail for drunk driving, we had nothing tangible (we didn't even have a car for awhile) and I didn't have a whole lot of self confidence anymore. Lari was born and raised in Lehi and had a ton of friends. She was popular, not necessarily because she was gorgeous, but because of her friendly and sweet personality.

this is actually a picture of Lari and her Sister Vicki in 1974

when they were both Varsity Cheerleaders.
She was a J.V. Cheerleader at the time, and one day out of the blue, asked me if I wanted to stay and watch the J.V. football game with her. After that, it seemed like we were inseparable. We were alot alike in some ways and not so in others. One thing that we did have in common was natural curly hair. We both hated it and did everything in our reach to straighten it. We ironed it ( NO flatirons, then) with a regular iron on the ironing board, used metal baby juice cans that were huge, as rollers with 'Dippity do' and hair tape, put perm on it, without the curlers of course, and anything else we could think of to make it straight. Lari was about 5'4" and I was 5'8". My waist hit her at the armpit. So we looked kind of like 'Mutt and Jeff'. We both loved sports and played every sport that (G)irls.(A)thletic.(A)ssociation. provided for us back in the good ol' days.- We played volleyball, softball, soccer, badminton, and basketball. Lari also ran track, but that was one sport I have never been good in. She was fast! She could beat almost every boy in the school in the 50 yard dash.
We spent alot of nights sleeping at each others homes. We would watch scary movies and then be scared to death the rest of the night. We walked from her house on East Main Street in Lehi up to my house, that was on 860 N. State in Lehi, sometimes 5 or 6 times a day (or night). It was probably 2 1/2 miles. It didn't matter if it was snowing, raining, or hot as hot! Neither one of us had a bike or a car to drive when we turned 16. Alot of times we walked it bare foot, because we both hated shoes.
We slept out alot in the summer time and did alot of toilet papering and soaping houses. I started working at the Lehi Cafe and then Lari got on too. Her sister Vicki, who was a year younger than us, worked with us, too. We had alot of fun times together. I loved being in the Peck home. I always wanted to have a close family like them. The best part was, I always felt like I WAS part of their family! I married Don just before High School Graduation and had 2 kids before Lari married Drew Downs. She always said that I was alot older than her because I had 3 kids before she had Dallas. Although, we were both born in March of 1956. My birthday is the 8th and hers was the 18th. We tried to stay close, but now we didn't have a whole lot in common anymore, so it was harder. Drew and Lari had six beautiful children, Dallas, Dixon, Darci, Destry, Dalton and Dillyn. Four of them are girls - funny, Lari (Larry) always hated that she had a boys name.
I am grateful for Lari and the whole Peck family - Tony, Janis, Lari, Vicki, Cole, Clay, Liz and Megan -for what they gave me and the great example of what a family should be. Lari's funeral was unbelievable. Obviously I wasn't the only person that she made feel special! Lari, I will always Love you! Thanks for helping me see who I could be!