Post by Kasey on Jun 8, 2017 18:04:04 GMT -8
The following is reposted from a blog I wrote on my personal blog. It was originally posted on April 25, 2010. It has been updated to fit the current date and enhanced to include further recollection.
I am the third oldest in my family, with brothers two and four years older than me. Brian is my oldest brother and he turned out to be pretty great. As toddlers he showed amazing patience with his little sister ... until he became a teenager.
I can't much blame him. I mean, what teenage boy has anything at all in common with a sister four years his junior? It was not a matter of hatred nor uncaring. I now chalk it up more to a lack of common denominator between the two of us.
There were times in my early teens when I wondered if Brian and I would ever find a commonality between us.
***
I was just 8 months old when my family moved to the house I would call my home when growing up. It was fall of 1992 and we were moving into a nice little neighborhood in suburban Portland, Oregon. This is the house my parents planned to make home for their family.
My mother and father were milling in and out, trying to organize some things. Brian was watching them, and watching over me and my second-oldest brother, Kevin, who was on the porch playing
As I said, I was not even a year old when we moved. My parents were inside our new house and I was in a stroller sleeping away my mid-day nap, also on the porch. It was early November, but as Brian recalls, it was fairly warm and dry.
***
Peggy was a wonderful woman who had lived in the house across the street since the 1960's, raised three kids and had remained in her house after her husband passed away in 1984.
She would become my favorite neighbor growing up. My brothers, sisters and I would always help with groceries, lawn mowing and such. Whenever she and anyone from my family were outside at the same time, there was always time for at least a short conversation
We were all great Portland Trail Blazers fans.
I learned more from her than I've learned from any time I ever spent doing classwork.
***
Peggy came over the day we were moving in when five-year-old Brian was outside.
She introduced herself to my brother with a smile.
"Hi, "I'm Brian," my brother said. "That's my brother Kevin playing on the other side of the porch."
"Come over here," he continued. "This is my baby sister, Kassandra. Isn't she beautiful?"
***
Unfortunately, my first neighbor passed away in April 2009 of a heart attack. I was shocked when we got the news on that Wednesday morning. I was on my way to school that morning, but what was going on in my mind and heart left me uncharacteristically distracted.
The first thing I did when I got home from school that day was go straight to my bedroom and cried. I was 17 years old and a high school junior at the time.
My family spent some time that evening talking and reflecting about Peggy and her impact on us as a neighbor and friend.
That was a truly sad day in my heart.
As I repost this entry from my personal blog, It is June 8, 2017. Today would have been Peggy's 80th birthday.
***
Now as I return home after graduating from law school, I think of the friendship between my brother and I. There are no more concerns about a common denominator between us.
We're both adults and have our concerns of life and the future. I am about to take the Bar Exam and begin my career as an attorney. Brian lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and two daughters.
When I was working on my undergraduate studies at Stanford, I was able to visit them often. We always had a wonderful time and we grew as brother and sister during that time.
I was a bit saddened when I graduated Stanford and would not be so close.
I cherish the bond we have now, but I suppose I never should have been concerned at all.
After all, he told Peggy what he thought of me all those years ago.
- MKM
In Kassandra's Words began on the Blazers Blogger Network and continues here on this site. Relocating this blog allows me to include Blazers blogs, but to also expand it to other sports and teams, as well as matters of the forum itself. I encourage comments. However, I request that comments be directed toward the topic presented.
_____________________________________________________
I can't much blame him. I mean, what teenage boy has anything at all in common with a sister four years his junior? It was not a matter of hatred nor uncaring. I now chalk it up more to a lack of common denominator between the two of us.
There were times in my early teens when I wondered if Brian and I would ever find a commonality between us.
***
I was just 8 months old when my family moved to the house I would call my home when growing up. It was fall of 1992 and we were moving into a nice little neighborhood in suburban Portland, Oregon. This is the house my parents planned to make home for their family.
My mother and father were milling in and out, trying to organize some things. Brian was watching them, and watching over me and my second-oldest brother, Kevin, who was on the porch playing
As I said, I was not even a year old when we moved. My parents were inside our new house and I was in a stroller sleeping away my mid-day nap, also on the porch. It was early November, but as Brian recalls, it was fairly warm and dry.
***
Peggy was a wonderful woman who had lived in the house across the street since the 1960's, raised three kids and had remained in her house after her husband passed away in 1984.
She would become my favorite neighbor growing up. My brothers, sisters and I would always help with groceries, lawn mowing and such. Whenever she and anyone from my family were outside at the same time, there was always time for at least a short conversation
We were all great Portland Trail Blazers fans.
I learned more from her than I've learned from any time I ever spent doing classwork.
***
Peggy came over the day we were moving in when five-year-old Brian was outside.
She introduced herself to my brother with a smile.
"Hi, "I'm Brian," my brother said. "That's my brother Kevin playing on the other side of the porch."
"Come over here," he continued. "This is my baby sister, Kassandra. Isn't she beautiful?"
***
Unfortunately, my first neighbor passed away in April 2009 of a heart attack. I was shocked when we got the news on that Wednesday morning. I was on my way to school that morning, but what was going on in my mind and heart left me uncharacteristically distracted.
The first thing I did when I got home from school that day was go straight to my bedroom and cried. I was 17 years old and a high school junior at the time.
My family spent some time that evening talking and reflecting about Peggy and her impact on us as a neighbor and friend.
That was a truly sad day in my heart.
As I repost this entry from my personal blog, It is June 8, 2017. Today would have been Peggy's 80th birthday.
***
Now as I return home after graduating from law school, I think of the friendship between my brother and I. There are no more concerns about a common denominator between us.
We're both adults and have our concerns of life and the future. I am about to take the Bar Exam and begin my career as an attorney. Brian lives in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and two daughters.
When I was working on my undergraduate studies at Stanford, I was able to visit them often. We always had a wonderful time and we grew as brother and sister during that time.
I was a bit saddened when I graduated Stanford and would not be so close.
I cherish the bond we have now, but I suppose I never should have been concerned at all.
After all, he told Peggy what he thought of me all those years ago.
- MKM
_____________________________________________________
In Kassandra's Words began on the Blazers Blogger Network and continues here on this site. Relocating this blog allows me to include Blazers blogs, but to also expand it to other sports and teams, as well as matters of the forum itself. I encourage comments. However, I request that comments be directed toward the topic presented.
