On my first day of work [at the playground] a couple interesting things happened. First of all i was quite a bit early, and secondly i ended up at Killarney instead of Glengarry, even though i was assigned to Glengarry. Maybe this was due to the fact that i needed to get a photo of myself printed, maybe i was lost, or maybe i had taken more notice of someone specific at the training day than i had realized. At any rate i got out of my car and ran over to the wading pool supervisor and quickly asked her if she knew of a place nearby where i could get a picture of myself printed out (for my nametag). Apparently this frantic first impression would leave a greater imprint than i figured. After i learned that there was a mall nearby that i would be able to get my picture taken at i was able to explain myself a little bit. Soon i rushed off and got my picture in time to make it back to my own park for "work".

- an excerpt from
"Summer Nights: So I told her, we'd still be friends"

I've known Trevor long enough that I can't remember the specifics of our first meeting. It would have been in April or May of 1988: the spring before Kindergarten. I'm told we were pretty much instant friends; although, it seems to me that he wasn't as sociable back then as he is now. Whatever the case, he and I have had some great times together. Whether it was when we were caught peeing in the backyard by his neighbour, if it was waiting fearfully for the arrival of Trevor's notorious cousin Manda, or if it was when I unsuccessfully tried to stop Trevor from biting Stephen, the early years of our friendship are pretty memorable. Since then, we've gone to the same schools, been in the same classes, played the same sports, and had the same friends. And despite his unusual religious beliefs, his enthusiasm for time travel, his obsession with capture the flag, and his passion for novelty music, we've managed to stay friends for more than 20 years. To say we are close is really an understatement. Here's hoping that people I don't even know will continue to ask me if I am "Graeme" of the "Graeme and Trevor."

Trevor entered my life in grade 7 singing 'There's manicotti for Dottie...' over and over and over again, and I distinctly remember wanting to punch him in the face.

Oh, the places we've gone, the things we've done since then...

The competition to see who could stay on the Avalon school grounds longest - touching a specific tree every 30 minutes, touching all the playground equipment with the fewest steps on the sand, hacky ball every spare in grade 12, playing hacky sack in the mud, staying up all night to watch the northern lights, clock our max sprinting speed, watch the sun rise from atop the physics building, ride a unicycle, talk about girls and watch Seinfeld, Trevor getting stuck in a tree in the river valley, us breaking Steve Kirkam's emergency shovel by sledding down Edmonton Ski Club, sledding off an embankment down to the creek, sledding on Mt. Lady McDonald (tying the tobaggan to my leg so it 'wouldn't go over a cliff and get lost'), skiing 100 km/h in a slow-skiing zone and getting YELLED at by the red-faced ski patrol guy, climbing every tree in quad, being told not climb every tree by campus 5-0, throwing Trevor in the air with ropes, snowball fights every day during the winter and hacky sack every day all year, no-shirt hack in the winter, fris-hack, fris-tack, plaque-aby, frisnic table, jumping out of 30' trees and Trevor missing the leaf pile, jumping off a balcony and inspiring a Gateway photoshoot (that never made it to the press), jumping off the roof, doing Parkour everywhere, climbing up and jumping off the huge seaside column in Alexandria, frequently making ground-breaking videos of Circus! antics, throwing the best house parties ever...

All the while discussing the meaning of life, the universe and everything, and even making some serious progress at times.

If Trevor was a girl, I'd be tempted to marry him myself.

Two decades is a ridiculously long time to know somebody. So long, in fact, that I can only guess as to when Trevor and I first met. There's a pretty good chance it was through his sister of all people as Kaleigh and I went to pre-school together at Malmo. However, it really isn't the "first time we set eyes on each other" that's important but rather all the trouble we've gotten into since. There were the notorious Spaghetti Dinners and Winter Carnivals along with the infamous "blue bin" incident in elementary. We plotted various mischievous things using Greek letters and had quite the time with Grover in junior high. Even in high school we managed to make a few dollars off staying up all night to burn boxes and boxes of CDs for the band concerts, became basketball scorekeeping pros, and caused quite the ruckus in Computers 30 constantly making fun of Sheep-goat while first discovering this new program called Napster. Once we got to university we moved on to late-night chess in the physics building while taking advantage of the telescope on its roof, quite the adventurous bike ride through the Mactaggart Nature Sanctuary (that ended in what I still claim was the best glass of A&W Root Beer I've ever had), and several treasure hunts for an elusive gold brick (one of the first times I met Amanda!).

If I can offer Trevor just one piece of advice: don't skimp on The Invitations.

June 2001, Greenshack program training was taking place at Rundle Park. I came a little earlier and was talking to some people when in walks a beautiful brown haired skaterboy. I knew from the moment I saw him that he was going to be my summer love. As with all love we needed an obstactle and the obstacle came quickly. This beautiful skater boy was originally placed as my park leader, MY park leader! Can you believe it? But then they swapped him out with a girl! A GIRL! Geez. But that would not stop our blossoming summer love. First day of work and guess who shows up at my park? The lost beautiful Southsider skater boy asking for directions (bonus point!) Pointing him in the right direction, I hoped this would not be the last I would see of him. As one would figure, it wasn't and the rest is history!

-"Amanda's Version of the Story"

Honestly, I can't remember that exact moment that we met but I imagine that in the way of many playground relationships, our friendship was instantly formed; bonding over a game of frozen tag or something of the sort. It seems like Amanda has always been a part of my life, more like a member of my family than simply a friend. We both a changed since those first days, better haircuts and better clothing choices, new jobs, and new friends BUT we've somehow managed to remain a part of each others lives. I guess we're meant to be together!!!

How I know Amanda (the bride to be)
by Laura Elizabeth Mumme :) (I'm such a dork)

Amanda and I met in the graceful and hardworking world of Synchronized Swimming in our early teens, 14yrs old I believe. More specifically, I met this tall, blond, brown-eyed beauty in the University of Alberta West Pool at the Nova Synchronized Swimming Club. Amanda was coming from another club, and with her killer long legs and unusually flexible back arch, I felt like she would be some tough competition. Luckily, we ended up on the same team and I discovered she was an intelligent, fun-loving, talented and driven friend. We won many competitions together and we even got to share the once in a lifetime experience of going to Nationals twice! If it wasn't for her, I probably would have only gone once. One of my favorite competition memories is you doing your crazy back arch and me crawling through it or trying to roll you head over heals, good times! After our competition days were over, we both went to University and tackled our grueling Science degrees. I loved talking about how much we hated some of our profs and classes during the times we should have been studying, oh well. Now, don't start thinking that our swimming days were over because we joined the Edmonton AquaMasters Synchro Club for 2 years and re-lived our glory days of competing. Mind you, we were a little out of shape, so it wasn't completely glorious. Finally, we find ourselves today back at the pool with the same club we began with, coaching side-by-side as co-workers, former athletes, University Graduates, strong women and best of all great friends!!

It was sometime between 1992 and 1993 when we first met.

We were in Grade two. She sat on the side of the classroom, closest to the window and I was on the other side, closest to the door. What I remember most about her was the short-cropped hair, tall figure and very colourful outfits (ah yes, the yellow striped spandex). What I can't seem to remember is the moment we actually met, struck up a conversation and became friends. My early memories of Amanda and I in elementary are mostly a combination of memories from different times--building snowmen in my backyard, collecting caterpillars for our "experiments", the bus ride to Drumheller when we were in Grade six, our bike-riding days where we would spend our afternoons riding all over the neighbourhood, our after-school chats on Amanda's front lawn everyday throughout junior high--the list goes on and on.

After fourteen years, nothing has changed between us. Although we don't see each other as often as we used to before going our separate ways after high school, we still manage to meet up every couple of months and talk just like we used to when we were younger--and it's that sense of feeling totally at ease with one another and being able to talk about anything without judgment is one of the most endearing aspects of our relationship.