I grew up playing kickball, basketball, football, and manhunt with all my neighborhood friends. We all were inseparable from the time the bus drop us off at home until dinner time. We spent every day together!

The bus rides were always crazy and now that I look back on them, if I was our bus driver I would quit. We were horrible because we had acorn fights. We would flip over the seats. Obviously, all this stuff was very unsafe and I have no idea how we got away with half of the stuff we did. Thinking back on it everyone from my bus was called down to the office, but nothing ever happened.

The winter was all about building tunnels, snowball fights, and of course sledding behind Bergen Community College. The summer was the best though from swimming in my pool to playing manhunt.

The games of manhunt were so intense, but they were a blast. If it was raining or too cold we would go inside my house and play hide and seek in the dark. We even convinced my dad to play sometimes.

Some days we would have game days where we would first walk up to 7Eleven and buy a bunch of snacks. Then, we would go to my basement and play Monopoly or Risk. Boardgames got really intense, really fast.

My neighborhood friends became part of my family. They would walk into my house without knocking or they would be over before I even came home.

High school came and everyone started doing their own thing. The games of kickball and manhunt stopped. The conversations on the bus faded. We suddenly all grew up and everything I once knew changed.

We might of all grew apart, but the memories we shared will last forever. We might not hang out like we used to, but we're all still family. My youngest sister will never know what its like to have neighborhood friends that become family because society is different and no one goes to play kickball in the street. I feel bad for her, but I appreciate what I had!