Chapter 1: Kristy

I smiled as I closed one of my photo albums and set it in a box. Graduation had been really only about a week ago, but there were moments where it seemed like I hadn't seen my friends in ages. I know growing up and moving onto the "real world" invokes some changes but it's still very weird not to be able to call my friend Katy and just walk across the street to meet up at her dorm or apartment.

Katy and I hadn't seen each other in a week, but there were some friends that I would be seeing shortly that I hadn't seen in years. In a few days the founding members of the Baby-sitters Club, a club that was formed when I was 12 years old, will be getting together for a reunion party. Most of us hadn't seen much of each other since high school, and now nearly all of us were college graduates, with some of us heading on to graduate school. It was hard to believe that we were becoming adults.

Back when we graduated from Stoneybrook Middle School, we had made a pact. That when we all graduated college we would get together and have a reunion. I, naturally, got the ball rolling on the reunion and now it was nearly here.

I thought about my thirteen year old self. She certainly would not have had any idea of what was to become of her. So many things happened since then: I got my drivers license, graduated high school, went to college, became of legal age to vote and drink, graduated college…my poor young self thought life was hard then, running my own business, the BSC was my main priority. I've decided that life doesn't get any easier as you get older. At every stage in life there is always something. I certainly wasn't looking forward to having to pay rent, bills and all of that fun stuff but soon I would be doing that exact thing.

I have a job, a "real" job that I would be starting this fall. I'm going to be working for the St. Louis Cardinals organization doing marketing. Basically, I get to promote my favorite sport of all time, baseball. That meant I would be moving to the good ole town of St. Louis later this summer. But I wouldn't be alone.

My best friend from college, the girl I was talking about earlier, Katy Daley, would be sharing an apartment with me, along with a long time friend (and one of the members of the BSC) Dawn Schafer. Katy was from St. Louis, and she was the one who helped get me my job in the first place, since her uncle works there. Katy, however, had more of an interest in the radio industry and was working for one of the rock stations out there. She has already started her job, but was staying at home until we moved into our new place.

Dawn was accepted into Washington University's law school. She really wanted to practice environmental law, which really didn't surprise me in the least. Even at thirteen Dawn was always big on taking care of the environment. I suppose it was a better route to take than her other passion when she was thirteen, which was health food.

So the three of us were going to share a three bedroom townhouse in an area of St. Louis called "Dogtown." Katy said that it got the name from people always being out walking their dogs. Sounded good to me, since I'm a huge dog lover. Dogtown historically has been known as the Irish part of town. Katy grew up in the area, and she's very Irish. She even Irish dances, and is damn good at it. She's competed in Ireland and won medals. She doesn't compete anymore, but teaches little kids once a week.

At any rate we were all close to where we needed to be. I was looking forward to it, but also scared. I hoped everything would go well with my new job, and that Dawn, Katy and I could get along.

Thinking about Dawn made me think about her step-sister, and my childhood best friend, Mary Anne Spier. Dawn's mother and Mary Anne's dad married when we were all thirteen. This was really the only way I knew anything about Dawn since she lives in California. Mary Anne and I had managed to stay in touch. I wouldn't exactly call us great friends, but we're friends in that we'll always be friends for life, if that makes sense. We've grown, changed, and met other people and other friends but we always know we can count on each other to be there if it's needed.

Thinking about so many of my friends made me think about our reunion, and my "great idea, The Baby-Sitters Club." As the name says my friends and I formed a club, and baby-sat for kids that lived in our area. It was a great business, but unfortunately we all at some point wanted to get "real" high school jobs like waiting tables or working at the mall (I smiled as I remembered Mary Anne's attempt at waiting tables…I love Mary Anne, but I think she spilled more drinks than any other person I've ever met!). However, when the last of us were ready to disband the club, many of our older charges had grown up. Today, my own step-sister, Karen Brewer, was a member of the club (she's the president, naturally). I was proud of the fact that my club, my idea, had continued on even after the original members had left.

Anyway, as I said before my friends in the BSC and I had made a pact when we graduated middle school that when we graduated college (at least, the older girls in the club) that we would all get together for a big reunion party. That was happening this Saturday. We were holding it at my parents house (well my mom and my step-dad) since they live in mansion, no joke. I knew we'd need a lot of room for the party, so it was the most logical choice (although part of me wanted to hold it in Claudia's old bedroom, where we used to hold our meetings – maybe we should take a detour over there sometime over the weekend. I'll have to call Claud). I was really looking forward to seeing everyone, since once we all graduated high school we hadn't seen each other much. Even though we had all remained somewhat close throughout high school (there were those of us who drifted, and those of us who remained good friends), college had been a different story. We had all gone to different places. It had been really interesting during the planning process for this reunion to learn more about how everyone was (and where they were).

For example, Dawn Schafer, the one I'm going to be living with in about a month, is originally from California. Dawn was the alternate officer in the BSC. I already mentioned that her parents are divorced, and that her mom and my friend Mary Anne's dad got married.

Dawn grew up in southern California, which is where her father currently lives. When Dawn's parents first split, her mom moved her and her brother Jeff to her hometown of Stoneybrook, CT, which is how we all met. Dawn became friends with Mary Anne first, then the rest of the club, and then became Mary Anne's step-sister. After awhile though Dawn became very homesick for California, especially when her father re-married and had another child. She moved to California and we saw her only sporadically when she came to visit her family in Stoneybrook.

Dawn went to undergraduate school at the University of California – Santa Barbara, where she majored in Political Science. As I mentioned above, she was now going to get her law degree at Washington University in St. Louis. Why Dawn decided to let go of California is beyond me, but she claims that Wash U (as she calls it) has one of the best programs in the U.S., so she's okay with moving away from California for awhile.

Mary Anne Spier, who I also mentioned above, is one of my best friends ever. We grew up next door to each other…we could even see into each other's window from our bedrooms! Mary Anne had been the BSC's club secretary, since she was (and still is) one of the most organized people I know.

Mary Anne was one of the friends I had managed to stay really close to, probably because she went to school in the state same as I did. Mary Anne went to Notre Dame University, where she majored in Psychology and English. As far as I knew, Mary Anne had not gotten a job yet, but she wanted to work as a high school counselor and continue on to get her masters and doctorate degrees so she could become a child psychologist. I supposed where she got the job and where she continued her studies depended on what was going on with her current boyfriend, Logan Bruno.

Logan had actually been an associate member of the BSC for awhile. He and Mary Anne first met and dated for awhile in middle school. They had broken up at the end of 8th grade and dated other people all throughout high school, but had remained friends. Logan got accepted to Notre Dame with a football scholarship, and sometime during their time there Mary Anne and Logan had gravitated back to each other. It seemed kind of cheesy romantic to end up dating a guy that you sort of dated when you were 13, but Mary Anne said that it was really weird and coincidental how they managed to reconnect. I wouldn't really know, since I hadn't had a long term relationship even remotely close to the ones Mary Anne has had. It's not that I don't like dating or anything, I just am not ready to be seriously involved with anyone. I tried to imagine myself dating Bart Taylor, the guy I liked when I was thirteen and laughed. No way can I picture it.

Anyway, Logan had done well in football and in his studies. Logan majored in sports marketing, which I guess makes sense. At ND, Logan actually surpassed the goal of most field goals by a kicker in a single season his junior year. He had thought about going pro, but Logan wasn't sure he wanted to. He had opted not to participate in the draft (much to the NFL's dismay, good kickers were hard to find), but he still had a couple of offers post-draft to play for some pretty prestigious teams. However, he still seemed to be holding out for some reason. I think Logan is worried that his going pro would affect his relationship with Mary Anne, which is bogus. Mary Anne has always supported Logan's athletic career. I'd have to ask Mary Anne about what was going on when I saw her.

Now, to the rest of the BSC members that I haven't mentioned already…

Claudia Kishi grew up across the street from Mary Anne and me. We were never really that close when we were young, but once the Baby-Sitters Club formed we all became better friends. Claudia was the BSC vice president, and had managed to get into NYU's art program. This was really no great surprise; Claudia has always been a fantastic artist. I wasn't sure if she had found a job yet, she didn't mention anything in her e-mail. I supposed I would find out this weekend what her future plans were.

Stacey McGill moved to Stoneybrook from New York City when we were in 7th grade and quickly became best friends with Claudia. Stacey then became friends with the rest of the club members (Mary Anne and I) and became the club's treasurer. Stacey has always been brilliant in the subject of math, so it was a perfect fit.

Stacey had gone to Columbia University, also in New York. I had always thought that Stacey would end up doing something with the fashion industry but she must have changed over the years because she had opted to major in business and economics. Stacey has always been fantastic with numbers, so I guess it's not that much of a shock…I guess I just don't really know her anymore (she was one of the friends I had really lost touch with).

Anyway, in Stacey's latest e-mail she had mentioned that she wanted to pursue her doctorate degree so she could teach business and economics classes at a university. She said was accepted into the graduate program at NYU and had an assistantship where she received money to be one of the professors in the Economics department's assistants. She even gets to teach some classes, which I'm sure will be a great experience for her in the future. I'm happy for her, but I don't think I could even imagine going through that much schooling. Stacey has another 3-4 years of school left before she can get her doctorate.

Abby Stevenson, (I went to college with her twin sister Anna), was a member of the BSC for a brief period of time. She filled the position of alternate officer when Dawn left. Abby is also a big sports fan, but she opted to go to an acting school in LA. Abby always had a good sense of humor, and apparently she had even done some stand-up gigs! I was looking forward to finding out more about her life in LA, since Abby and I really only had kept in contact due to the fact that her sister and I went to the same school, and we'd see each other holidays when we came back home.

Shannon Kilbourne, one of my childhood neighbors, and another associate member of the BSC, had majored in vocal music and theatre at Indiana University – Bloomington, or IU. Shannon's school wasn't too far from where I went to school actually, so we had become better friends in recent years, as I was able to visit her somewhat frequently and attended many of her concerts, recitals, shows, etc. Shannon was a fantastic singer and actress. Shannon wanted to be a star on Broadway, and I believed she would be. For now, she was looking into some smaller professional theatres, she had an in with some theatres in the Chicago area and was moving to Chicago in about a month.

Oh, I suppose I should mention a bit of my history. As I mentioned before Anna Stevenson and I went to college together at DePauw University, which is a small university in Greencastle, Indiana. I had gotten accepted into their media fellows program and I was able to play softball and basketball, since I'm pretty decent at sports, and DePauw is a division three school, so the competition isn't as difficult as it would be at say, Florida State, UCLA, Notre Dame, and so forth.

I had found out about the school from Anna, who I mentioned above. Anna is a big time musician, and plays the violin. She went to DePauw as well, but majored in music (she actually introduced me to Katy). She wants to play for a symphony, and I have no doubt in my mind that she will someday. Anna is a fantastic violinist. Anyway, DePauw has a great music program and when I was searching for colleges Anna and I talked about it, and I realized that the school may be what I was looking for. I visited, fell in love with it, applied, got in and a great scholarship and that was that.

That makes up all of the BSC graduates…we had two other members, junior members, who are a couple of years younger than us. Mallory Pike and Jessi Ramsey.

Mallory is the eldest of eight kids. Mallory is currently going to San Diego State, studying journalism. Mallory had gotten a full ride scholarship, which was good because with seven other kids, the Pikes couldn't afford to send Mallory there otherwise. Mallory had always wanted to write and illustrate children's books, but in the e-mail she sent all she could talk about was working for the college newspaper. She's one of the copy editors on the paper, and I guess she really enjoys it. I was interested in hearing more about what she was up to, and the rest of her siblings.

Jessi Ramsey is one of the members I had really lost touch with, even more than Claudia and Stacey. I had always thought Jessi would end up at Julliard, because Jessi is a fantastic ballet dancer. When I realized I didn't have any contact information for her, I had to hope and pray that Mallory did (Mal and Jessi were best friends in middle school). She had an e-mail, I guess Mallory hadn't kept in touch with Jessi much either.

Anyway, Jessi had been excited to hear from me and hear about the reunion. Fortunately she was planning on coming to Stoneybrook for the weekend, so she was able to come. I had been surprised to learn that Jessi was not dancing professionally, and that she had not gone to a dance school.

All she mentioned in her e-mail was that she was still involved with ballet in that she was teaching a children's class a couple of times a week for fun and for money, and that she was at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. She didn't mention what she had chosen to pursue but I guess I would find out soon enough. I was definitely interested in hearing what made her decide to stop pursuing ballet professionally, because she is a great dancer.

I sighed. Just thinking about how much each of us had changed reminded me about growing up, and how much we had distanced ourselves from each other. At the same time, it was nice to know that even with the lack of communication over the years, we could still get together and catch up with each other's lives. That had been my one hope when we had graduated from 8th grade. That no matter what happens; we try somehow to keep in touch.

It was scary to think about what those future communications would be like. Now that most of us were out of college, soon some of us might be getting married, having kids of our own…it was too scary to think about.

In the process of planning this reunion, I learned so much more about my middle school friends than I had learned in years. I realized that the only person I had really made an effort to keep in touch with was Mary Anne, and by default Dawn (because Mary Anne naturally wanted to keep in touch with her step-sister).

I knew this was part of growing up. You meet friends throughout your life and sometimes you remain friends, and sometimes you don't. When I was 13 I couldn't imagine not being close to Mary Anne, Claudia, Stacey, Dawn, Abby, Mal or Jessi…now it's a reality.

I shook my head and tried to forget about the growing up part, the moving on with our lives and away from the way we used to be, and focus on the party. It was bound to be an interesting evening of fun, catching up with each other and reminiscing. I had a lot of big plans for the evening, I could only hope that everything went well, and in the end, we all reconnected with some important people in our lives.