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PLAYCENTERS

Beautiful Backyard

Play Centers

18 models in stock...Redwood & Pine

Delivery & Set-up available • We accept Visa, Mastercard & Discover
"Our 52nd Year"
AUBURN HILLS
OXFORD

2391 Pontiac Road
(248)-373-0734

KING BROS.

Hours:. Mon. -Fri. 8-6, Sat. 8-S

1060 N. Lapeer
(248)-628-1521

For An
Affair To Remember

fIVTR1 GUE

Music, Entertainment
And Floor Shows

• Weddings
• Bar/Bat Mitzvahs

• Corporate Events
• Dinner Dances

For More Information, Call

Stella Actis

•Banquets
• Anniversaries

(248) 879E2373

offers quality craftsmanship in all of our custom designed pieces and repairs.

Couple that with the most talented designers in the jewelry industry and you can be
assured that your next purchase will be perfect.

M.B. Jewelry offers full service — appraisals, watch repair, lapidary service and jewelry
repair. We carry many stones, diamonds and colored gems.

A

Simple repairs while you wait.

M.B.JpE pleW
gatEe Lsclii.Yre.DE.S4IGN
LTD.
298 4 7 Northwestern FH?;

Southfield, Ml 48034 • (248) 356-7007

ivv,5;4,3,

ta FLOWER
•
• Creations By Ceil Y")

wedding specialists
248-544-4500

3071 W 12 Mile • Berkley

FULL SERVICE FLORISTS
PARTIES, SYMPATHY, HOSPITALS

4/10
1998

74

EdItoR's NoTe

hen I was young, I
always had a best
friend. Admittedly, she
changed often. I would quarrel with
Lesa and promptly declare Cheryl
my "best friend," then have a dis-
agreement with Cheryl and
announce Jennifer was now my
"best friend." Little girls are like that.
As I got older, and moved from
city to city (my father was in the Air
Force) I no longer had best friends.
I had many acquaintances, most of
whom I forgot
as soon. as we
moved to a new
town. I kept in
touch with a
few, through let-
ters, but eventu-
ally I lost contact
with them all.
It was only
when I got to
college that I
made a real
best friend, also
I named Eliza-
: Beth. She told me she knew she
liked me right away, the moment
she saw me enter a room where a
bunch of my fellow dorm mates
were watching TV. It was something
trivial, something sentimental, and
they were moved to tears. I turned
my nose up and asked, "What is
this garbage?"
Elizabeth and I were inseparable
those years. We remained in con-
tact after school and even shared
the same apartment for a time in
Jackson, Miss. Then she married
and moved to England, and I left
Mississippi and eventually settled
here.
About twice a year Elizabeth vis-
its her mother, who is ill, in Mem-
phis.
After one such visit, she managed
a stop in Detroit. I went to the air-
port, and for the first time in 10
years we met up again.
How strange, and wonderful, to
see her. It was as though we had
been having coffee just yesterday.

We talked for hours about all our
antics, the failed dreams of those
we had known (the would-be
actresses and writers and singers),
how insufferably self-absorbed we
had been back then.
Perhaps it is an inevitable scar
from all those years of moving, but
to this day I tend to keep my dis- -1
tance. I have friends, but only a
few are truly close. Elizabeth is one
of these.
A good friend is like a family
member. You
laugh together,
endure bitter
arguments,
share intellectuc
passions.
Always, a best
friend offers
unconditional
support.
"How do I
look?" I asked-/
-,
Elizabeth
moments before
this photo was
taken. was tired, my hair in disar
ray.
"Beautiful," she said.
Everything was the same, and
everything was different, too.
Where once our whole world wa5.
us, now we talked about saving
money for our children and gettinc
them the best education. We both
agreed that we hate Beanie
Babies, those creatures that seem
multiply before your very eyes, an/
\
that our children are the most
adorable in the world.
Often, .life is a dark and wild
wood, where you must make your
own path to an unknown destina-
tion. But along the way to sustain
you are dear friends and family,
who form a kind of secret garden,
where you are always safe. ❑

Elizabeth Applebaum
AppleTree Editor