Stone Mountain Park, Georgia was a heaven for us. We moved to Stone Mountain in 1984 and I lived there for 8 years. I don't think I'd be alive today if it hadn't been for the safety nature gave us in the park. Here, the carving on the face of the mountain is shown. Below is the lake where we often went for walks, to feed the ducks, and to listen to the pipe organ (yes, that big thing in the middle of the lake out there is really a pipe organ).

We lived in one of those neighborhoods where every third or fourth house looked the same, just a different color. We called them crackerjack houses because they were so small. Anyway, our house looked just like the beige one with the bay window. The boy in our yard was a good friend of mine named Kyle, with his dog, Princess.

The divorce decreed that I spend every other weekend and every other holiday with my father. In addition, in the summers I lived with him and went to see my mom every other weekend. I despised that setup. One summer I got the chance to go visit my mom's sister in Chicago. Here, Blu poses under a painted moon in one of the restaurants. Rachel holds our newly born cousin Christina at the 4th of July celebration at Taste of Chicago.

Another great key to our survival was our cat, Tiger. Boy, if she could talk! Here JeniPeni gets her to pose for a quick picture. Selah and mom started to really bond and become friends after it was just them (and the cat of course) living in the house.

Entropy poses with a friend of ours named Terry at our 7th grade graduation. Yes, we really did used to have big hair ;-) The next picture is about a year later. Jynnifer and April became very close friends in middle school. Here they show off their best friend necklaces.

At the school dance Lady showed up in a nice white dress. Her date for the evening was Marcus.

Even though the years we spent in Atlanta were ones in which Selah lost contact with us inside, we still managed to slip in and out from time to time. At the park JeniPeni often fed the ducks. Wallpaper gets caught for a picture as she hides in a bunch of rocks. Below, Blu poses on the edge of the stone wall that surroungs the pipe organ in the lake.

At this time (still in Atlanta) things became very tense for us. We began to segregate inside and lose touch (and cooperation) with each other. Each year seemed to take us further and further apart inside. Here, Selah blows out the candles on her 16th birthday cake.

This is another picture where the subtle differences between us can be seen. This is us in our dress that we wore to our stepsister's wedding. We loved that dress, and our father hated it. But our stepmother convinced him that we looked good in it so she made him buy it anyway! In the first picture above, Raz poses. In the second picture, Blu poses.

Chapter Six: Milestones and Road Markers