Between Amy and I, we're swinging from the last thread of that rope with the noose tied at the end and believe me - we're about ready to let go! She's such a cute little bugger that we've all been giving her what she wants while she's sick and now she thinks that's the way it should always be. She doesn't want to share her mom or gramma or any of her toys, nothing! I keep telling myself this won't last forever and yes, tomorrow is Monday and I get to go back to work. (Sorry Amy, it's all yours!)Now I'll tell you about my brother, Kendall . . .
Kendall is my only brother, the only boy growing up with six sisters. He was a pretty good target in the early years but as he grew he also earned our respect. We were all so excited to have a brother, all except Apryl maybe because Kendall was born on her eighth birthday which meant that her birthday party was postponed and her mother, who always made birthdays special, wouldn't be there for her special day. She didn't care that she got a baby brother for her birthday. She was down right mad! I remember the story that my mother always told. She said that after Kendall was born my dad said that it was a good place to stop because they finally had a little boy. Mom told him that surely he didn't want to raise one boy with three girls and dad said, "Better to raise one boy with three girls than one boy and six girls." I think he jinxed them because that was exactly what they had. Three more girls.
Anyway, Kendall was always pretty little and so it was easy to make him do whatever it was you wanted him to do. Then I remember the day he stood up to me and sent me running to the bathroom to lock the door and find safety. I was cleaning and I had asked him to take stuff downstairs about ten times and he was tired of running things back and forth. I told him to do it and he told me to do it myself. I was about sixteen which would have made him about twelve or thirteen.
I tried to push him down the stairs with the end of the broom (I know, not nice) but he grabbed it and proceeded to chase me to the bathroom with every intention of returning my favor. From then on I looked at Kendall in a whole new light. He didn't take anymore crap from me and so I just stopped trying to lay it on him.
I think my parents felt sorry for Kendall being the only boy so when he was approaching his teenage years they sponsored an Indian Placement Student through the church. His name was Stewart and he was a pretty good kid. I admire my folks for doing that. It wasn't easy for them and raising a big family was just as hard if not harder back then as it is now. Stewart stayed with us for two or three years during the school year. It was getting harder every fall for his parents to let him come back so after a few years he stayed on the reservation in Saskatchewan to go to school. It was a good experience for all of us but especially for Kendall. He learned that he had to share his things just like we girls had to. He and Stewart got along really quite well. It was a good learning experience for all of us.
Kendall dated Alanna Pack in the early dating years. Actually he dated her right up until he left for his mission. Back then we decided that we, his sisters needed to teach him some proper dating etiquette and how to greet Alanna's parents when he went to pick her up for a date. We had so much fun, telling him all the wrong things to do and watching him try them out because that's what we told him he had to do just in case he made a mistake. We had him turning inside out and upside down trying to do it right until finally we were all laughing so hard, including Kendall that we let him off the hook and let him do it his way.
Probably my favorite memory of Kendall was the Christmas that Cyndi and I sabotaged his sleep. I was a senior in high school I think and it was a little embarrassing because I was always the first one awake on Christmas morning (still am). I had been laying in bed next to Cyndi for what seemed like an hour and couldn't take not know what time it was anymore so I quietly slipped out of bed and went out into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs to turn the light on and check my watch. It was only 5:30 so I quietly slipped back into bed resigning myself to two more hours of laying awake waiting for a younger sibling to wake up. I guess I wasn't quiet enough because Cyndi rolled over and asked me what time it was. I told her I didn't know and she started to push me out of bed until I would tell her what time it was. Then the two of us laid there unable to sleep wondering how we could wake up the younger kids, specifically Kendall since his room was next to ours, and make one of them get up. This would make someone else the bad guy for waking the whole house so we snuck into Kendall's room and set his alarm for fifteen minutes.
He was such a sound sleeper and he worked at the local stock yards feeding cattle in the winter so when his alarm went off he just kind of went into auto mode and got up and got ready for work. We laid there in bed waiting for his alarm to go off wondering why we had set it so far ahead. As we laid there we made more plans to really get him going. We went in again and took his work clothes and laid them on the stairs so as he went up he would automatically get dressed thinking he had to go to work. Again, we lay in bed quietly waiting and waiting. Then we decided to unscrew the light bulb from his lamp so he would have to get up and go out of his room to check the time. As we were doing this however, Kendall woke up and sat straight up in his sleep. He looked directly at us and asked what was wrong. Cyndi, being the quick thinker that she is, said that it was nothing. She said she was just looking for a pair of her socks and thought they were in his room. We ran back to bed and lay there again waiting to be discovered but nothing happened so we decided we probably still had time to tie his feet together. This way when he climbed out of bed he would fall and really wake himself up. We gently lifted his covers back and oh my gosh! his feet were so far apart it was going to be impossible. Then for no reason, he pulled his feet together and laid one on top of the other just perfect. We wiggled the only thing we could find to use as rope, a red piece of yarn, gently sliding it under his toes and tied his feet together. Mission accomplished. We had barely got back in our bed when his alarm went off. It was so loud I'm sure it woke the neighbors. He started to cuss and scream as he fell out of bed and banged his head on his night stand. He burst into our room yelling at us but we just pretended to be asleep, just waking up to his little tantrum. He went upstairs and sure enough, woke mom and dad and the younger girls so my parents gave in, it was now 6:30, and let us get up an hour earlier than usual. It wasn't so bad until Cyndi and Kendall called me back downstairs for something and then bound and gagged me, threw me in a closet and left me there while they went upstairs to open gifts. It didn't take me long to get loose and join them but every Christmas we remember that night with fondness, laugh and give thanks that we have memories like this to bind and hold us together.
Kendall has always been a pretty good sport. He's had it a little rough in his life but has now found true happiness with his beautiful new wife Jen.
He says that he never knew someone could be loved so much by another person. Jen gives him the love, the support and the confidence to live a rich, full life. I thank Jen and love her for being the love of his life. If I could only have one brother I'm glad I have Kendall. He's the best of the best!
Anyway, Kendall was always pretty little and so it was easy to make him do whatever it was you wanted him to do. Then I remember the day he stood up to me and sent me running to the bathroom to lock the door and find safety. I was cleaning and I had asked him to take stuff downstairs about ten times and he was tired of running things back and forth. I told him to do it and he told me to do it myself. I was about sixteen which would have made him about twelve or thirteen.
I tried to push him down the stairs with the end of the broom (I know, not nice) but he grabbed it and proceeded to chase me to the bathroom with every intention of returning my favor. From then on I looked at Kendall in a whole new light. He didn't take anymore crap from me and so I just stopped trying to lay it on him.
I think my parents felt sorry for Kendall being the only boy so when he was approaching his teenage years they sponsored an Indian Placement Student through the church. His name was Stewart and he was a pretty good kid. I admire my folks for doing that. It wasn't easy for them and raising a big family was just as hard if not harder back then as it is now. Stewart stayed with us for two or three years during the school year. It was getting harder every fall for his parents to let him come back so after a few years he stayed on the reservation in Saskatchewan to go to school. It was a good experience for all of us but especially for Kendall. He learned that he had to share his things just like we girls had to. He and Stewart got along really quite well. It was a good learning experience for all of us.
Kendall dated Alanna Pack in the early dating years. Actually he dated her right up until he left for his mission. Back then we decided that we, his sisters needed to teach him some proper dating etiquette and how to greet Alanna's parents when he went to pick her up for a date. We had so much fun, telling him all the wrong things to do and watching him try them out because that's what we told him he had to do just in case he made a mistake. We had him turning inside out and upside down trying to do it right until finally we were all laughing so hard, including Kendall that we let him off the hook and let him do it his way.
Probably my favorite memory of Kendall was the Christmas that Cyndi and I sabotaged his sleep. I was a senior in high school I think and it was a little embarrassing because I was always the first one awake on Christmas morning (still am). I had been laying in bed next to Cyndi for what seemed like an hour and couldn't take not know what time it was anymore so I quietly slipped out of bed and went out into the hallway at the bottom of the stairs to turn the light on and check my watch. It was only 5:30 so I quietly slipped back into bed resigning myself to two more hours of laying awake waiting for a younger sibling to wake up. I guess I wasn't quiet enough because Cyndi rolled over and asked me what time it was. I told her I didn't know and she started to push me out of bed until I would tell her what time it was. Then the two of us laid there unable to sleep wondering how we could wake up the younger kids, specifically Kendall since his room was next to ours, and make one of them get up. This would make someone else the bad guy for waking the whole house so we snuck into Kendall's room and set his alarm for fifteen minutes.
He was such a sound sleeper and he worked at the local stock yards feeding cattle in the winter so when his alarm went off he just kind of went into auto mode and got up and got ready for work. We laid there in bed waiting for his alarm to go off wondering why we had set it so far ahead. As we laid there we made more plans to really get him going. We went in again and took his work clothes and laid them on the stairs so as he went up he would automatically get dressed thinking he had to go to work. Again, we lay in bed quietly waiting and waiting. Then we decided to unscrew the light bulb from his lamp so he would have to get up and go out of his room to check the time. As we were doing this however, Kendall woke up and sat straight up in his sleep. He looked directly at us and asked what was wrong. Cyndi, being the quick thinker that she is, said that it was nothing. She said she was just looking for a pair of her socks and thought they were in his room. We ran back to bed and lay there again waiting to be discovered but nothing happened so we decided we probably still had time to tie his feet together. This way when he climbed out of bed he would fall and really wake himself up. We gently lifted his covers back and oh my gosh! his feet were so far apart it was going to be impossible. Then for no reason, he pulled his feet together and laid one on top of the other just perfect. We wiggled the only thing we could find to use as rope, a red piece of yarn, gently sliding it under his toes and tied his feet together. Mission accomplished. We had barely got back in our bed when his alarm went off. It was so loud I'm sure it woke the neighbors. He started to cuss and scream as he fell out of bed and banged his head on his night stand. He burst into our room yelling at us but we just pretended to be asleep, just waking up to his little tantrum. He went upstairs and sure enough, woke mom and dad and the younger girls so my parents gave in, it was now 6:30, and let us get up an hour earlier than usual. It wasn't so bad until Cyndi and Kendall called me back downstairs for something and then bound and gagged me, threw me in a closet and left me there while they went upstairs to open gifts. It didn't take me long to get loose and join them but every Christmas we remember that night with fondness, laugh and give thanks that we have memories like this to bind and hold us together.
Kendall has always been a pretty good sport. He's had it a little rough in his life but has now found true happiness with his beautiful new wife Jen.
He says that he never knew someone could be loved so much by another person. Jen gives him the love, the support and the confidence to live a rich, full life. I thank Jen and love her for being the love of his life. If I could only have one brother I'm glad I have Kendall. He's the best of the best!
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