Approximately 20 years ago my two-years-older brother came home from middle school with a new friend in tow. The friend’s name was Andy, and all personalities considered, it was probably Andy towing my brother because in Andy’s wake came a whole crowd of new friends, Casey and Jeff being the most prominent of the crowd. This influx of teenage boys added a whole new dimension to life at our house. It was kind of like having a noisy forest with elephant feet move in. (They were all so TALL).
It was all fun and games for the first year or so. I got to be the tag-along sister and join the fun. Then puberty hit. I’m not sure whether it hit me or them, but it hit pretty hard and the relationships got a little more . . . complicated. I couldn’t easily be the tag-along sister anymore because we all became very aware that they were a crowd of boys and I . . . wasn’t. My mature and reasoned response to the new complexity in relationships was along the lines of “AIEEEEE RUN AWAY!” So I started hiding in my room a lot. This meant I missed out on night time laser tag in the backyard, making a movie about a remote controlled robot, creating a role playing game called Exploration, and a host of other fun geekish activities. I would have loved playing the games, but to my loss, I simply wasn’t mature enough to handle the relationships.
When the herd of boys two-years-ahead graduated they pretty much disappeared from my life. I’ve thought of them occasionally, but never with the intent to look them up because in my mind they were complicated people to know. Somehow I never took into account that we’ve all grown up somewhat in the last 20 years. Then a couple of days ago Casey popped up in my Live Journal as Deyo and pointed me at Andy’s webcomic Casey & Andy. http://www.galactanet.com/comic/index.htm It’s a surprisingly addictive strip. I read one and thought “eh” then another and another and then I found myself smiling, then laughing out loud.
Suddenly I was forced to re-evaluate because I realized that “That herd of boys” would all fit in wonderfully with the online crowd I now hang out with. In fact they’ve already been fitting in wonderfully for quite awhile without me even knowing it. Apparently they’ve been Schlock fans for years and just figured out who Howard Tayler’s wife is.
I guess the point of this whole meander through memory lane is to say Hi Casey! Hi Andy! I’m glad to know you again!
Read the entire archive yesterday, I really like it.
And it’s always good to have more friends, old or new.
My brother’s best friend from high school is still one of his best friends today. His name is Richard, and he’s rather like a fourth sibling. When my brothers got married, he attended their weddings, and he would have gone to my sister’s had it not been for a winter storm and a cancelled flight.
I was the tagalong sister with my older siblings’ friends; surprisingly, puberty never motivated either me or my older sister to stop playing with the (still older) boys. In fact, I didn’t even usually let the NO YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE signals (delivered with adolescent subtlety: “GO AWAY!”) from them deter me. We were an odd bunch.
Glad to hear your old friends got back in touch, though. That’s cool. 🙂
Hi! Glad to be back. 🙂
Hi there,
Nice to meet you. I’m deyo’s sister. 🙂
An interesting journal for me to read. Because, for complicated circumstances, Casey and I did not really grow up together. As a result we have a very limited awareness of what each other’s lives were like. So I have to sort of stop and think rationally, “Well, yes…there must have been friends, right? I know Dad let him out of the cardboard box *occasionally*…”
And despite years and years and anecdote upon anecdote, I’ve never met Andy. I would claim he was an imaginary friend except Mary insists that she’s met him, and frankly I trust Mary more than I trust Casey. 😉
All in all a long way to thank you for sharing that part of your history. There’s a puzzle to assemble there, and each piece is worth claiming.
-Lori
I’m not dead yet!
Who said that? Did someone speak?
I’ve met Andy. He exists.
(as for Mary, I will repeat what I said to someone else last night…I love her, but she’s evil).
I’ve met Andy, he exists. At least some days. 😉
On alternate Thursdays?
*laughs* The thing about Andy is, near as I can tell, his sleep schedule floats around the day ane night fairly freely. I’d guess that I’d think of him “existing” more often when he’s awake during daylight and evening hours…
Awakeness is overrated. 😉
’tis true. 🙂
I find this whole thread debating the existence of Andy highly amusing because for two years Andy disbelieved in the existence of my oldest brother whom he’d never met.
For two years I had an imaginary girlfriend, according to Andy.
By the time the two met, we’d been apart for over a year, though still (and since) friends and co-gamers.
Hmm. It would seem then that Andy himself exudes some kind of anti-existence field which calls into question the reality of people.
Perhaps he’s just been party to a few too many dimensional crossovers (ala Casey & Andy) and hence can’t keep track of who is real this week.
I rarely post in LJ, but I felt compelled to here. After all, my existence is questioned. If I don’t post I might disappear in some sort of Schrodingerian puff.
Hi, all! Yeah. I exist. And I’ve never met Casey’s sister, as it happens. We’ve been best friends for nearly two decades, and I’ve never met his sister, and have only met his mother twice, the first time being only a couple of years ago.
As for David (Sandra’s brother), yeah, I remember the imaginary brother. But once he finally returned, I hung out with him so much I definitely made up for lost time. Some of you may recall a video game called “Mazemaster”. That was a joint effort between David and I.
As for Johanna (Casey’s imaginary girlfriend) I didn’t meet her until long after they broke up. Though I did once anger her by proxy by telling Casey to say “Go Netherlands” to her on the day the Dutch beat England (Johanna is English) in World Cup Soccer.
As for Casey, I’m sure he doesn’t exist. I think he’s a figment of my imagination, as are all the things all of you say about him.
-ATW
Ok, if there’s now a waiting list to be real, I think I should get myself on it. I’m sure there are few things that being real is a pre-requisite for. Like the DMV. Well, wait a minute…now that I actually think that one out a bit, I think the existential reality of the DMV could be adequately challenged in a three step syllogism. So never mind.
But I’m sure there are SOME things that one has to be real to partake in. So, in a feat of blind optimism, I’m going to reserve a week from Tuesday for myself. Everyone esle can feel free to reserve other days.
I think an absence of reality will help me more than anything else for a while so I think one day this month will suit me nicely. 🙂