Sundae, Chai Tea & Queen Bee & Me
June 29, 2026| Monday Early Evening|4:26 PM
My Best Friend Growing Up
My best friends from childhood who I grew up with are Sundae & Chai Tea. I changed their names because I haven't spoken to them in a long time to ask if I could use their real names. I don't think it would be a problem, but I still want to respect their privacy. They're The BEST Best Friends a Native girl could ever ask for.
There were a few other people in our neighborhood friend group, Sundae's siblings were all good friends of mine. 🥰 And, they lived directly next door to me. And, Queen Bee, who lived in the house between Sundae & Chai Tea. Most days, the 4 of us would be together. Or, at least 2 of us were always together after school & on the weekends.
Chai Tea, she lived at the end of our house unit. Every house unit had six houses connected side by side. She was Caucasian. Sundae & her family are Romanian. And, my family are Native American. The low income housing projects where we lived had a combination of different races & nationalities. To me, it was really cool to have friends of different backgrounds. I didn't fully understand it at the time, but I loved listening to everyone around me speak in their own languages.
There were families from Vietnam, Romania, Laos, Thailand, China, Hungary & other families who were Samoan, Native American & African American. Growing up, everyone in our neighborhood got along well with one another. The older guys always played football or basketball together, or, put out large cardboard boxes on the ground & blasted their huge boom boxes on high & took turns break dancing. The older kids were always together hanging out. And, I was always with Sundae, Chai Tea & Queen Bee. Sometimes, my little sister would tag along with me. I didn't mind. My friends liked her, too. But, she always had so much energy that she would spin around & around on the monkey bars just by her feet! Seriously! LoL!
I don't know how my little sister did it, but, in middle of the neighborhood and between the two main parks were 3 level monkey bars.
The first monkey 🐒 bar was about her same height. She couldn't do anything on it.
The second monkey 🐒 bar in the middle was her favorite. She was able to pull herself up, wrap her legs & feet around the bar somehow & swing around it by her feet alone! I'd always watch in amazement! I was too afraid to even try that! But, she was fearless.
Another thing that she loved to do on the middle monkey bars is kind of like a gymnastics round off! Except, she swung herself around the monkey bars a few times then exited the bar in a round off. I don't know how she did it, but she was a pro. She was fearless. And, she was always climbing trees, monkey bars, the highest swing sets & along the window frames below our windows. There was this square box space above our front door. You could fit 3-4 people comfortably. From the bedroom window on the 2nd floor a person could hang outside the window, there was a wooden foothold where the could stand. And, while holding onto the windowsill all you had to do was take one big step & you were safe above the front door on that square space. I hope I described that clear enough to understand! I can see it in my mind! LoL! We used to sneak outside by drop hanging onto the lawn from the space above the front door!
Anyways, 3rd & 4th grade were my best years with Sundae & Chai Tea! They were also some of the worst years for being picked on by the bozos in class who would shoot pretend bows and arrows 🏹 at me. But, my friends were always there to protect me. Chai Tea was in my classroom, too. Sundae was one year older than us. (Me).
Sundae was my best friend. Tho. We all hung out together at times. Chai Tea was also my best friend, too. I can't explain it. They were both my best friends. But, the two of them didn't hang out together at all if I wasn't with one of them. And, Chai Tea & Queen Bee have always been close BFF'S. The two of them were always together when I was with Sundae.
Queen Bee always teased, "I'm the only Black Girl in the world who can't sing!" Her mom was Caucasian & her father was African American. She has a light skin tone & her mothers dark brown hair. She was really tall & skinny when we were kids. Short dark brown hair to her shoulders. She was extremely funny. She was always doing something silly. She was really smart, too. I remember her Mom was always reading the Sunday Morning Paper. I don't know if she did the crossword puzzles or not regularly, but, I remember one Sunday morning she was sitting at her table trying to figure it out. You know those glitches in your memories when you remember a particular moment, but, you don't remember it fully.
Whenever I was with Chai Tea, we would listen to music a lot. She loved to dance. I admired her confidence & energy. I was clumsy & had no rhythm. I couldn't do a choreographed dance to save my life. Chai Tea was always trying to teach me one of her dance routines but I shyly watched & cheered her on. We listened to #NKOTB, Tiffany, Debbie Gibson & others who were on the radio in the middle to late 80's.
When I hung out with Sundae, we mainly walked around a lot, talking. Or, we'd play two square in the parking lot or jump rope! Other times, we'd go to the 2nd park & swing on the swings. The first park was always full with the smaller kids because there was a huge metal dome that was all monkey bars with a large sand box underneath. It was a popular site for the all the kids in the neighborhood.
Our neighborhood magician named Ba lived in the house by the monkey bars dome. His favorite trick. His one and only trick was making a coin appear from behind your ears! We all fell for it over and over! No matter how many times we've seen it, we all ran to his back porch every single time he stood there & he'd pretend to perform an elaborate show then make a coin appear & disappear from someone's ear! LoL! He was around 70 years old, pure black short hair. He always wore a dark colored sweat outfit with a zip-up matching jacket. He was short, really thin. And, he was always smiling & laughing throughout his magic show! His facial expressions were intriguing. Because, with each person, he changed up the scenario.
When he performed 🎭 his magic show, sometimes he was really serious, pretending to tell us to be quiet. He was escaping from a house & everyone had to be quiet. Then, he'd make the coin appear or disappear & we'd all clap!
Other times, he was silly! He'd act out that he was a monkey 🐒 in the circus & 🎪 he was doing a magic show for his act! We'd all watch intently. He'd act like a monkey & then, all of a sudden many coins appeared! He was such a fun person to watch & be around!
Me & Sundae would always watch his show whenever we walked by his house & he was outside. Sundae was like me in a lot of ways. The biggest thing that we had in common was that we both were quiet people. We didn't care about being the most popular girl in school. We didn't want to be, or, need to be the center of attention. We were happy spending time together walking to school, hanging out at recess & walking around our neighborhood until the lamppost lights came on. We showed up as we were & that was enough.
XoXo 🌹
Love,
Me
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