Jun 132010
 

Ever since I met my sister Amy last January, I’ve really been having fun getting to know her better. She’s really easy-going and what I like the best about  her is that I can text her and say, “Hey, wanna get together this Saturday?” and she’s like, “Yeah, cool!” There’s no chasing! No run-arounds! No flaking! When I was at the lowest point of my depression after the dissolution of my friendship with Christina, I sent Amy a Facebook message, asking if we could get together and talk. And she was there for me. I remember thinking, “Holy shit, so THIS is what families are supposed to be like!”

She has two children: Tyler’s 15 and I very briefly met him after the Wheeling Nailers game we went to in April, and Brooke is 5. I thought it would be fun to get her and Chooch together, since Amy hadn’t met Chooch yet either. So we planned on spending the afternoon at Washington Park yesterday. Our respective boyfriends came along as well, and both of them made us late. Typical.

We met at Subway first to get some food to take to the park. Chooch immediately began to play keep-away from Brooke. “That girl keeps trying to sit with me!” he kept whining to me, playing into his role as a boy with shining perfection.

So it was my first time meeting this little girl and I could do was shyly say “Hello” and then run away to join Amy and Dick who were in line ordering their subs, leaving Brooke under Henry’s supervision.

I’m cripplingly awkward around children.

We got our food to go and found a little playground with a picnic table, where the kids never sat. They took off as soon as we got there, but never actually talked to each other. Chooch spent most of the time trying to devise creative ways to kill himself on the monkey bars.

After we ate (I’m always the last one to finish), we found an empty school parking lot for Chooch and Brooke to ride their bikes. They still didn’t interact much, and Henry kept trying to teach Brooke how to ride without training wheels. Henry always wanted a daughter. Too bad he got saddled with three boys.

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Chooch picked a flower all on his own accord and presented it to Brooke. It was definitely an aw-worthy moment, but I still thought to myself, “I hope he remembers that he’s related to her.”

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There was a playground over the hill and it served as a miraculous ice breaker for the two of them. Henry, Amy, Dick and I stood off to the side and did grown-uppy things, like complain about the heat and talk about rental property.

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Chooch was like, “WHY DO I HAVE TO KEEP STANDING NEXT TO HER?!” like he felt compelled to constantly remind us that he’s a DUDE and standing next to a girl might get him stabbed the next time he’s knocking a few cold ones back at the biker bar.

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I kept trying to chase them to take pictures. That turned out about as well as you’d imagine.

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She is like, the cutest girl ever and makes me miss being a kid.

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It was such a nice day.

Chooch kept finding ways to bring Brooke into the conversation, even hours later. Like when he was drinking fruit punch. “Does BROOKE like fruit punch?” he asked haughtily.

“I’m not sure,” I replied. “Maybe.”

“Probably,” Chooch said, with feigned disgust. And then he did the stereotypical “girls are so dumb” eye-roll.

  5 Responses to “Chooch & Brooke: The Big Meet-Up”

  1. She is such a pretty little girl, so photogenic!

  2. “Henry, Amy, Dick and I stood off to the side and did grown-uppy things, like complain about the heat and talk about rental property.” TOLHURST!

    You know I approve of Riley’s shirt! And it cracks me up that they spent so much time not speaking.

  3. How come Chooch’s actions surrounding the fruit punch remind me an awful lot like someone I know????
    His hair in these pics remind me of JC, and not Jesus Christ, tho this JC is a savior in a sense, too.

    I’m glad you found more people in your family who aren’t dicks.

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