DATE: Thursday, August 28, 1997             TAG: 9708270171

SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN             PAGE: 02   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: MR. ROBERT'S NEIGHBORHOOD 

SOURCE: Frank Roberts 

                                            LENGTH:   66 lines

LASTING FRIENDSHIPS CAN NEVER BE FORCED

One of the happiest things about growin' up - oh, about life in general - is friends.

I live in Hertford, N.C., where my wife was born and raised, and she is still very close to the people with whom she went to school.

I was born and raised in New York City, and I couldn't tell you where any of my kidhood friends are but I could tell you a little about them.

Some ``friends'' are thrust upon you. Bootsie, for instance. His mom and my mom were best friends. They visited often so, like it or not, I was - shall we say - stuck with him.

I was an easygoing youngster, he was the bully of the block. I preferred the company of Johnny Bucher.

That was a neat friendship - he walked in my house without knocking, and vice-versa.

There were few things we didn't do together - went to the movies, Coney Island, Central Park - sat around and watched television.

Yeah, right. This was the '30s and '40s. We listened to the radio, we talked a lot, laughed a lot. He made my young years a joy - I hope I did the same for him.

What got me on that tangent was a recent visit to my favorite dance teacher, lovely, soon-to-be-wed Leslie McGinn, at the Southside Ballet Studio in Smithfield.

I went up to talk to two of her students, whom I've known for many years - Mila Grizzard and Meredith Spivey. They are, respectively, 20 and 18 - 5 feet 4 inches, and 5 feet 10.

That reminded me of Johnny and myself. He was two years younger than me, and the height difference was the same as with Mila and Meredith.

The girls' parents are best friends, and they've been best friends since babyhood.

They began taking dance lessons together, at Southside, soon after they learned to walk. They did everything together.

Both graduated from Isle of Wight Academy, both are going to Radford - Mila is a junior, Meredith a frosh and, yes, both are taking dance.

``Hopefully, I'll get a job with a ballet company - anywhere in the world,'' said Mila, who said they chose Radford ``because it has a strong dance program, and we didn't want to go to an all-dance school. We wanted to be with normal people.''

The girls were surrounded by dancers this summer. They were in ``The Lost Colony,'' the famed Outer Banks production that tempts many young dancers. Thousands audition at several locales across the country, but only 20 are chosen. Way to go, McGinn.

The young ladies are hoping for repeat performances, as Indians and colonists, next summer, ``even though we had to dance on sand, wearing 40-pound costumes, in 95-degree heat,'' Meredith said.

``The most fun was all the friends we made. The friendships will last forever. All we talked about was dance,'' she said.

``It wasn't like a cast or company,'' Mila said. ``It was like being part of a big family.''

I expect that whatever happens in years to come, Mila and Meredith will remain very close.

You know the ironic part of my young friendships? I know where Bootsie is - talk to him once every decade - - but, I have no earthly idea where Johnny is these days. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by FRANK ROBERTS

Meredith Spivey, left, and Mila Grizzard spent their summer

performing in ``The Lost Colony,'' the famed Outer Banks production.

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