Today I received a very nice gift. It wasn’t money, toys, a PS2 game…not a new Guitar …nothing like that. Rather, it came in the form of an email. Priceless. The gift of nostalgia…it just doesn’t get much better than that.

[Since I probably wont be posting until after the holiday, mark this as my Christmas Post and Happy Holiday to you all!

Peace on Mars ...good will to Aliens]

Back to our story…I woke up …grabbed my coffee and started checking the email like we all do. Well, in today’s In-box was a message from a gal I was very close friends with from the old neighborhood named Kelly. Kelly and I were the hippest Break Dancers on our block. Where there was a piece on cardboard, you’d usually find us spinning on it doing crazy contortioned moves and flipping our bodies around to the sound of some crazy "Ghetto Blaster" blaring along side us. We were actually PROFESSIONAL BREAK DANCERS(and pretty good at it)…for one Summer, we were actually paid by Wonderland Mall in Michigan to perform in their eating area and we attracted crowds…they even advertised it. It’s all funny when I think back on it now. Bottom line, Kelly and I were good friends.

At some point in our childhood, we would get in trouble doing the silly things that kids did…we all did some wild stuff but Kelly ended up getting caught. I’m not sure of what really happened but at around the age of 15, Kelly was sent away to live with her father out of state and NONE of us ever heard from her again. We knew she was alive because some of us were still in touch with her older brother Chris but…there was never any real contact. Not until TODAY.

I could go on and on with stories from my childhood but let me just say that getting an email from Kelly was a very nice gift…it opened up memories I’d long forgotten about. I wrote back and hope to hear more and catch up on life. Meanwhile, I looked through my old photo album and scanned this silly photo of just some of my childhood friends.

• Jimmy: Now lives in Florida with his wife and kids…Jimmy used to have these crazy parties that only compared to a Tom Cruise movie like Risky Business(only without the hookers).
• Chris: For a long time, Chris and I were best of buds…Chris and Kelly are brother and sister and he was part of the Break Dance Fest
• Katrina: We were evil to Katrina thinking back…She also moved away to Texas at about the age of 16. Katrina was known for practicing black magic(i’m not making this up).
• Mike: Mike and I would give Katrina hell. Mike was also the 1st bass player in the Detroit’s version of the band Moisture. Mike gets teased for being the most fertile man alive…he could just breath on a gal and she’d end up pregnant. Mike has 3 very lovely kids.
• Pam: Pam was known for being pretty and yet a bad ass… I once saw Pam beat up 3 older boys down at the train tracks. I secretly used to love to watch her kick these boy’s asses
• Kelly: Whose email inspired this blog entry. Thanks so much Kelly…I hope you stay in touch! (say, is that a GLASS BOTTLE of Mountain Dew on the table? WILD!)
• Scotty: Scott was always getting into trouble…I remember him being one of the only 14 year olds on our block to have a Moped[Honda Spree]. Having one of those made him instantly COOL[you have to remember this is before anyone could drive a car legally]. Scotty was stabbed to death about 6 years ago over something senseless. It was very sad.
• Janine: Janine was the glue to quite a few of these people..not to mention one of my 1st girlfriends Janine should have been a shrink because everyone usually ended up telling her their problems. We’re still very close friends today…as I am with quite a few of the folks I grew up with.

There’s quite a few friends missing from the photo but this was just one I grabbed and quickly scanned for my "holiday post"

One of the people missing from this photo[My friend Jeff] will be visiting here on the 26th of this month and I’ll be spending his birthday with him on January 3rd.

Well…this is my Holiday Post…and I couldn’t ask for a better gift of having these crazy fun memories.  I only hope you all have a great Christmas, Hanukah, and SeXmas.