As I mentioned yesterday, an old friend of mine died last week.  Shane and I met in 6th grade when his family moved in up the street.  Since we lived on a boundary street we could choose the school we attended.  Technically, we were rivals.  At least our schools were.  He rode the bus to the newer junior high.  I attended the school on this side of town.  The funny thing is, we were closer when we attended different schools.  When it came time for us to attend the only high school in town, we drifted apart with different circles of friends.

Shane and I spent a lot of time together outside of school.  From building magnificent cities in my backyard for our matchbox cars (yes, I was a tomboy) to playing Nintendo at his house (he introduced me to the wonderful world of Mario Bros) there was no limit to our activities.  We were never truly bored and we didn’t need anyone to entertain us.  If we needed to go somewhere, we rode our bikes.  If we had some downtime, we produced air concerts (kind of embarrassed about that one).  We were always on the go.

I suppose Shane’s annoyingly calm demeanor complemented my nervous energy.   Something about us worked for the most part.  Of course, he was a smarty pants.  I tend to gravitate toward that kind of personality.  We had conflicts because we both needed to be right.  It worked out okay because we both thought we were.

One night while watching Real Genius (every time I watch that movie I think of him) we concocted our own drink (non-alcoholic of course).  We took our 7-Up and threw in a few Hot Tamale candies and voila!  The Bummer was born.  I still enjoy drinking one from time to time and I introduced it to my niece, Bubba.

We decided to produce a magazine to keep us busy.  In early 1987, Kid’s Mag was born.  Our little magazine only cost a quarter to buy.  It cost $.90 to produce (we had to make copies at the library).  So yes, we folded rather quickly.  We did it all on typewriter with a third partner, Susie.  Our subscriber pool consisted mainly our moms, nach.

In the end, there was a rift.  Shane left the company which left Susie and me without a name for our magazine.  No problem.  We reformulated and produced another magazine for a couple more months.  In hindsight, our acronym may not have been the best choice.  Kid’s Mag was replaced with Kid’s AA – Kid’s Against Adults.  It really had nothing to do with teen – or children – in recovery.

I found the very first issue of Kid’s Mag (in with my mom’s stuff) for you to enjoy.  Okay, enjoy might be a strong word.  Unfortunately, the date is in the corner.  I hoped to discover this all took place at a younger age.  But no, I was thirteen.  Oh dear.  This is a fine token of the educational system at work.

Keep in mind, this was all done on typewriter (pre-computer with no spell check) – even the crossword puzzle Shane made.  This was also before I knew about all those pesky copyright laws.

You can tell what articles I wrote because I signed my name to everything.  What? I have a fancy name I might as well put it on all I do.

So, if you don’t mind, I’ll raise my glass of Bummer and make a toast.  Here is to young minds that dream big.  May you never find a limit to your aspirations.