8.15.2010

andy.

i love my brother. (i will add pictures to this post asap... check back)

and i have always looked up to him.
(except that time he punched me in the stomach.)

i have many wonderful memories from growing up with him.
and there are times when i think of him that make me laugh out loud to myself.
sometimes i start laughing so hard that i can hardly get the story out.
and sometimes when i actually do get the story out, people i'm sharing it with don't get what's so funny.

but that's my brother. and i get him.
he's hilarious. strange. wonderful. chill.
salt of the earth. kind. trustworthy.
and chatty late at night.

we are a year and a half apart.
i was one grade behind him.

i survived my teen years because of my brother.

so i thought i would share a quick story about growing up with andy.

do you remember when everyone used their home phones to talk to one another?
as a teenage girl, the phone was my friend. i could spend hours on it.
(odd, because now, i totally dislike talking on the phone.)
i would spend time up in my room "doing my homework" or listening to the radio while on the phone.
call waiting was a dream to me because i didn't have to get off the phone in case someone was expecting a call.
when the phone did ring, inevitably, two family members would pick up at once. it could get tricky because i never wanted my parents to hear all of my important teenage talk.  so, i always had to wait to hear the other family member who answered it hang up before i could really begin a conversation.
that's what it was like as a teen in the late eighties /early nineties kids. communication was strategic. ;)

my brother knew it that i liked getting phone calls.
my brother knew that i would run to my room to answer.
so, what he did was pick up the phone in his room (there was no cordless phones at this time- we all had a phone in our room attached to the wall) and he waited for the dial tone to stop.
once there was silence, he called out loud to my room, "kaaaate- phooone."
(remember i didn't need to hear the phone ring to think i was getting a call because of call waiting.)

so, i  inevitably jumped up and picked up the phone with eagerness and answered, "hello?"
and instead of a friend calling, i heard,
"hi kate!" from my brother.
then i stood up and looked into his room from across the hallway, and while still holding the phone to my ear, i said, "hmph, andy!!!"
he laughed hard at me, but then, still talking on the phone, asked if i would come into his room and hang out with him. which i did.

this happened many times after. sometimes, i would already be in bed going to sleep and he would yell that i had a phone call and then ask me to come hang out. i would get all irritated about how tired i was and why couldn't he just come into my room to talk and why did i always have to come in there, etc.

but deep down, as much as i wanted to be mad at him, i never really was.  i actually was thrilled to be a part of his life and considered him my best friend throughout this time.

he would ask me why i thought he didn't have a girlfriend. i would ask him what guys liked. he would tell me about his friends or how his day was. i would tell him who i had a crush on... and so on.
and that's how it went.

and i miss those times...
they are one of the most valuable memories of high school for me.

the end.

5 comments:

Jean Joiner said...

oh...so that's what was going on...being the baby in the family stinks when your older siblings are teenagers. :)

Jean Joiner said...

can't wait for the photos!

keri said...

your brother makes me laugh too. and when you are with him...you become like him and all his sarcasm. so funny. (and thanks for enduring talking on the phone with me for hours when you don't like to do it!) :)

B. Prentiss said...

great post. Andy's a trip.
But it appears someone hacked into your blog and wrote "I totally dislike talking on the phone"

Angie Davis said...

I always loved hearing you talk about your brother. sweet.