Retro Friday: The Neighbor Kids

Ok, so last week I wanted to share a picture that I could not locate, and it included the neighbor kids. I decided to give up the search and use these two pictures to tell my story. When we moved from the the mountains to the valley, we rented a house in the small town where I grew up, and right next door was a family with three children. Their father worked with my dad, and they were good coworker friends. There was a girl my age named Karen, sister named Cory, and a little brother named Kenan. Karen is seated near me, and her sister Cory is in the front. I think her brother is sitting by the kid, who I have no idea who he is. Their mother was Japanese, and their father was American. Not that this a big deal or anything, its just that in the small red neck town we lived in, it was very exotic to have a different nationality kid living next door. This little girl somehow knew she was special in some way, because she had an air about her in the way she carried herself and interacted with the other kids on the block. Before I launch into the story about her, I will tell you about the pictures. This was my brother's birthday party, and I would have to say I was 4 in this photo, because his birthday is in December( the 23rd! poor kid), and mine is in October. When I turned five, we moved to our brand new home in the country shortly after my birthday. This picture was taken in the spooky Victorian we lived in downtown. To this day I could swear, that it was haunted. Now back to the neighbor kids. I don't know how this little girl wrapped so many people around her little finger but she did. When we lived downtown, I would go next door and ask to play with her everyday! She probably came over to our house maybe twice. I still remember feeling awkward going over there everyday to ask if she could come out and play, yet I did so. Their house inside was so cool, and her mom always had some sewing project going on in one corner of the house. This woman was an AMAZING seamstress. Karen's sister Cory, was a sweetheart, and a gentle soul. Her little brother Kenan was a cutie pie, and sometimes I just ended up playing with him. Like I said, we moved out to the country shortly after my birthday to a brand new custom built house, with our very own bedrooms and lots of acreage to play and just roam. Well, guess who else moved to the country, literally right next door? You guessed it, Karen. I don't know who they got to build their home, but it was huge next to ours and had more bedrooms and bathrooms than ours did. I remember my mom not being too happy with them moving next door, as she really didn't interact with Karen's mom very much. She was a quiet reserved woman, and probably didn't know very much English at the time, to be fair.
I have numerous stories about my interactions with Karen and how she was always that shadow that kind of hung over me for some reason. Both our moms sewed, but her mom sewed like her life depended on it! Every day Karen had a new outfit, no joke. She would go to school everyday looking like a little doll out of a box, and she would come home looking the very same way. My mom use to get so mad at me when I would arrive with dirt rings around my knee socks and just a general mess. She would say, " Why can't you come home looking like Karen!" One time I got so mad, and told her it was because I actually PLAYED and she just stood there and bossed people around. This is pretty much how it went all through elementary school, with a few hurt feelings tossed in because of fights. One time my brother and I were playing out in the field, and a little kitten was caught in a tree. We tried to spook her by throwing a rock next to her to see if she would move down the limb a bit more. Karen witnessed what was going on, and proceeded to slap me, and yell at us. I hit her back, I'm embarrassed to say. She started crying, and said she was going to tell. I ran home like the wind, and hid in my back yard. I heard her telling her dad, who was doing yard work, and he said, " What did you do to her, because she is a nice little girl, and I don't think she would have done that for no reason!" In that instant, I felt vindicated, and forever thought her dad was a cool cat!

You can tell how much this girl affected me when this is one of the longest posts I have written in a long time. Skipping ahead to high school now..... lets just say that everyone worshiped this girl!!! She was a cheerleader, in student government and on and on. She had many boyfriends and also was invited to many parties. Meanwhile I was a loner, and watched her comings and goings from my house. One more humiliating story before I close this already too long post. One summer, I had to weed the front yard in the evening after the sun was not so hot, and I was knee deep in mud and looking a wreck. Up drives Karen's newest beau of the week to come pick her up for a date. They both just stood there watching me and were laughing. She then said to me, "You have yourself a nice evening now." They laughed all the way to the car, while I secretly wished I could just disappear in that instant.

She became homecoming queen, and dated the quarter back of the football team...all the clique things you do when you are "popular."

Then junior year rolls around, and she starts to hit the party scene a bit too much. She wasn't a cheerleader anymore, and her grades must have slipped because she was no longer in student government. I don't know what happened to her at this time in her life, but she continued to be the toast of the school regardless. I personally just wanted out of the small town and studied my way out. I got accepted to a four year college, and I never looked back. Karen......well, she stayed in the small town and last I heard was a receptionist for the gas company, never married, nor did she finish her education as far as I know through small town gossip. Her sister and brother fared much better, and both have families. I think the thing that use to really bother me was when kids at school would come up to me as say,"I can't believe you live by Karen, you are so lucky!!" Lucky how? I just could not understand the fascination with this girl! How is it that there are some people that can create this kind of celebrity in their own little world. To this day it puzzles me.

Did you have a neighbor kid that was a thorn in your side??