In middle school, my first cousin Kent came to live with us temporarily. I was in 6th grade. Kent came from Washington DC, was taken away from his friends and made to live with us in Charter Oaks. He lived in our basement. If you have ever been to Charter Oaks, you know the basement was not huge, but it was his domain. Thank goodness he had his own space. I was fascinated by Kent. One of his chores was to take the garbage out to the dumpster. He would use this as an excuse to light up and smoke cigarettes as he walked down the front of all the townhouses, and then make a 90 degree angle cut over to the dumpsters. He would stay down there until he was almost done with the butt and then come back to the house. I used to watch him out the window in my room on the second floor in the front of the house. I had not known Kent before this, from nothing more than holiday visits. He was the polar opposite of Christy and I - we followed the rules, lived inside the box, didn't do anything wrong. I am not saying Kent was a bad person. I am saying he came from a situation that was not optimal with his family at that time in his life. I'm pretty sure that Kent doesn't remember much of the interactions with me at this initial start of our relationship. But I remember him - and how my mom was devastated to send him back to his family. He and Christy were close in age, so they were in the same classes in Algonquin. This experience with Kent would be the foundation for the relationship that I have with Kent today. I consider Kent a brother from another Mother. A mother who was NOTHING like my mother. Kent and I have been through a lot together, and it has not been all good. But that is life - you have to take the good with the bad. What I know is that Kent has a heart of gold. He would give you the shirt off his back and make sure you had 20 bucks to buy yourself food even if he didn't have any money left for himself. Kent loves deep and falls hard when those around him that he loves let him down. When it comes to gifts, he puts an incredible amount of thought into it, and much like his father, he always sends a birthday card, usually with well written heartfelt words in it. Kent has always gotten a bad rap for being a black sheep in the family. I too, have sometimes felt like the black sheep (more like the tie dye sheep) because I was not conventional - which is probably why I relate to him so well. I have learned so many things from my relationship with Kent. For this reason, Kent is a huge impact on my life.
In middle school, my first cousin Kent came to live with us temporarily. I was in 6th grade. Kent came from Washington DC, was taken away from his friends and made to live with us in Charter Oaks. He lived in our basement. If you have ever been to Charter Oaks, you know the basement was not huge, but it was his domain. Thank goodness he had his own space. I was fascinated by Kent. One of his chores was to take the garbage out to the dumpster. He would use this as an excuse to light up and smoke cigarettes as he walked down the front of all the townhouses, and then make a 90 degree angle cut over to the dumpsters. He would stay down there until he was almost done with the butt and then come back to the house. I used to watch him out the window in my room on the second floor in the front of the house. I had not known Kent before this, from nothing more than holiday visits. He was the polar opposite of Christy and I - we followed the rules, lived inside the box, didn't do anything wrong. I am not saying Kent was a bad person. I am saying he came from a situation that was not optimal with his family at that time in his life. I'm pretty sure that Kent doesn't remember much of the interactions with me at this initial start of our relationship. But I remember him - and how my mom was devastated to send him back to his family. He and Christy were close in age, so they were in the same classes in Algonquin. This experience with Kent would be the foundation for the relationship that I have with Kent today. I consider Kent a brother from another Mother. A mother who was NOTHING like my mother. Kent and I have been through a lot together, and it has not been all good. But that is life - you have to take the good with the bad. What I know is that Kent has a heart of gold. He would give you the shirt off his back and make sure you had 20 bucks to buy yourself food even if he didn't have any money left for himself. Kent loves deep and falls hard when those around him that he loves let him down. When it comes to gifts, he puts an incredible amount of thought into it, and much like his father, he always sends a birthday card, usually with well written heartfelt words in it. Kent has always gotten a bad rap for being a black sheep in the family. I too, have sometimes felt like the black sheep (more like the tie dye sheep) because I was not conventional - which is probably why I relate to him so well. I have learned so many things from my relationship with Kent. For this reason, Kent is a huge impact on my life.
