This series will contain posts styled as a memoir with memories that I feel like sharing. I first wrote these articles in 2017 when I was suffering from burnout. I may post one or two a month. I hope you enjoy these intimate glimpses into the life of...
Episode 7
A Club for Me
My sisters created a club. It consisted of the two of them. If one of my oldest sister’s friends was spending the night, she was immediately inducted into their club, at least for that day. I badly wanted to be part of their club. I was a girl, too, dang it. I should be allowed!
I’d knock on my sister’s door, which was locked to keep non-members out, namely me because my brother sure didn’t care about joining their club. They wouldn’t open the door. They’d tell me to go away, giggle, and taunt. I’d beg them to let me join their club.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” I pleaded. “Please.”
The door opened. I thought it meant admittance. I was wrong.
My other sister stuck her head out and told me I should make a club with our brother. Then the door was shut in my face.
I balled my eyes out, still knocking on the door, begging to be let in. Just once? Just today? For at least an hour?
No go. I was not wanted.
I sulked. This was the first bit of rejection I ever experienced, and I was a child, but this would not be the only time I’d be rejected by them.
After my eyes dried, I went to my brother’s room. Since my sisters never wanted to play with me, I always played with our brother.
"Do you want to form a club? Just me and you? We can make a better club than theirs.”
Rival clubs. Yes! I’d show them. I’d have a blast in my exclusive club with our brother and show them. I didn’t need their stupid club, anyway!
I got a sleeve of crackers, the jar of peanut butter, and a knife so my brother and I could make peanut butter crackers, because I saw my sisters do that once when they were holding a “session” for their club in my sister’s room.
My brother and I munched on peanut butter crackers, and I felt better.
A club of my own. Finally.
The rejection still stung. Of course, it did. But because my sisters tossed me to the side then, I ended up having a great friendship with our brother. We rode our bikes all around the block, watched wrestling, and played card games like poker and war with two decks.
My brother became my best friend at home, and I’m eternally grateful for the relationship I had with him then and have with him now. He’s the best big brother I could ever ask for. He didn’t reject me as he easily could have, because, well, I was a girl, but I liked a lot of the same things as he did, and we both needed someone to hang out with, since our oldest brother wasn’t around much and was too old to want to hang out and do kid things.
One of my favorite memories of a game my brother and I played involved paint brushes. This was before our road was paved, and we would take these paint brushes to the end of the driveway and sweep away all the sand as if we were archeologists uncovering fossils, just like in the beginning of Jurassic Park.
When houses were being built in our neighborhood, we’d climb to the top of the piles of dirt and sand and play for hours. Once cement block and a structure started to go up, we’d take our bikes and ride round and round inside the houses being built. This was even more fun when the walls and roof were in place.
Another spot we liked to ride our bikes was a cul-de-sac called See. No houses were there, so we’d race around in circles until we got tired.
We also went to a canal in our neighborhood, road our bikes along the path, and caught guppies. Catching guppies and tadpoles was my favorite thing to do. If a hard rain came and lasted for days, I’d go out with a pail and a strainer and catch tadpoles in my ditch. There were hundreds! I loved them when they were plump, but as soon as they got little legs, they creeped me out and I’d dump them back into the ditch.
Side Note: Frogs give me the willies.
In the end, although I wasn’t allowed to join the club that I initially wanted to be a part of, I ended up finding a much better club. Now, I wouldn’t change that for anything.
