Charm bracelets were the thing in elementary (and possibly junior high?) school. I loved mine. The cat’s head swivels. The ballerina had a pearl (which has been lost). I think I got her just because someone thought she was pretty (as I did not dance!). I am an Aquarius, and of course play the piano. Santa for fun! The dachshund, of course! A girl’s silhouette. An owl, don’t know why. Sally Allen gave me the 6 pack of cokes and the telephone. The telephone is great, it has a lever you push back and forth and you can see the letters ILOVEU in the hole where your fingers dialed the numbers on a real phone. And this was before texting! Also, I think I have Sally (and my mom) to thank for my addiction to cokes!

Sid and Sally Allen lived next door to us. I loved climbing the fence and jumping into their backyard to visit. Sally raised roses. They were all around the fence in their yard. Lovely lovely roses everywhere. But the thing that drew me in was the fishpond. They had a concrete patio, and in it Sid had built a sunken fish pond with huge goldfish. I imagine they were koi, though we always just called them big goldfish. Which is probably what koi are anyway! I loved going and watching them swim. And, if I got asked inside, Sally gave me a coke. She was forever drinking them!

I am sure she was addicted to cokes. Just about every time I saw her she had one. She was elegant, and loved makeup. I remember she would get tiny samples of lipstick from where she worked and bring them to the neighborhood girls. Maybe she worked at Heironimus, or Miller and Rhodes downtown? I don’t remember. Sid and Sally were next door the entire time I lived there on Christian Ave. in Roanoke. Sid was funny. I wish I had better memories of them. I miss them.

This is what those little lipstick samples looked like:

And now, for charm bracelet pics!