My family tree gets a little complicated to say the least.
When I was three-years old, I had three older siblings, David, Kim, and Jerry. My younger sister and brother are Meredith and Adam. Since I’m the sole DNA recipient of my mother and father, all five of my siblings are biologically halves and steps, but to me, they will always will be my family.
Currently, I have other stepsisters and one or two stepbrothers, but the only one I really know is Sarah. When you get older and your parents remarry, it is weird to suddenly have extra family. Also, you find yourself including close friends as family so let’s just imagine that my family tree has become more like a vine that keeps growing and spreading in all directions.
Kim is truly one of a kind. She lived with us for a while back when I was around 13-years old. I have two fond memories of her from that time in our lives; the first is a special Halloween and the other involves a courting cowboy.
My little brother, Adam, was all set to trick-or-treat as Oscar the Grouch. He was pretty adorable back then and had a real thing for Sesame Street. At the time, I felt that I was too old to ask for candy and Kim was a young adult so we figured that cute, little Adam would bring back a lion’s share of sweets to share with his favorite sisters. We were wrong.
Adam returned in a selfish mood and Kim and I could not convince Mom to make him share so we did what we were forced to do: dressed Kim in the Oscar costume while I chaperoned her through the neighborhood.
Even though I was younger than her, I stood about 5 feet 10 inches tall while Kim had stopped growing at around 5 feet nothing. She fit in the costume perfectly and the candy was totally worth it, not to mention that it was comical to see Oscar the Grouch driving a car.
The courting cowboy was a gentleman who was vying for Kim’s attention. He was a really nice guy and, one night, he decided to come to the house and bring a couple of Cokes for Kim and me.
The reason I’ll never forget him is that he showed up in flip flops and the poor guy had the ugliest toes Kim and I had ever seen in our lives which led to a bad case of the giggles. We started strategically laughing at every little joke he told because, given the way he stretched his legs out, his toes were kept on constant display like a funky puppet show. Kim never went out with him again.
As a public service, I’d like to take this opportunity to inform all you nice men who happen to have unfortunate-looking foot digits to please wear closed-toed shoes until after the wedding.
Speaking of weddings, my niece was a beautiful bride and the deal was sealed with a kiss. The food was excellent and my brothers, David and Adam, ensured a steady stream of laughter flowed from our table. I couldn’t have asked for better company.
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