Sleepovers

So that's a picture of me in year 5. Miss Kim was my (beloved) teacher, there was a fun mix of personalities in the class and I was, without doubt, the tallest girl for miles around.

I had braces.

I rode horses.

I liked people.

I loved having friends and spending time with them on the weekend, and the ultimate social experience was the sleepover. Armed with your favourite pillow and strict instructions not to "stay up all night!" sleepovers were the funnest form of friendship gluttony. A gorging out on chips, giggling, movies, secrets and each others company.

However, I never had a boy for a sleepover...well, not until I was 17 and that was ENTIRELY different!

Sleepovers with boys in primary school just weren't done. You could be friends with a boy but not best friends and certainly no pillow fights or sharing bags of lollies under a doona while watching The Dark Crystal.

What a shame.

And then, around this time the pressure started to mount about having a 'boyfriend' or in the 80's, 'going round with' a suitably impressive specimen from the male two rows of the class. And then friendship with boys disappeared to be replaced by awkward passing of notes and clandestine and uncomfortable games of spin the bottle at birthday parties. I kinda wish I had had a bit longer to be simply friends with boys.

The reason for this blog is not simply nostalgia, it is sparked by the fact that my two boys are not here.

They are both at a sleepover.

At the house of their two friends.

Who are both girls.

They are all fun and quirky kids who share a love of animals and Doctor Who. They can all giggle and joke and pillow fight with the best of them and genuinely enjoy each others company. They are not 'boys' and 'girls' - they are just kids.

Enjoying a sleepover.