The Anderson Women
As many of you know, I grew up next door to four girls. Their names are August (McGowan), Arden, Aspen, and Arlo “Kid” Anderson. As I depicted in my first book, The Greattastic Adventures: Miracle Child, our families were really close at first, but then we started fighting. I thought that the girls were bullying me, and the girls thought that I was bullying them… If I'm being completely honest, there was fault on both sides. In seventh grade, I lied to them and told them I needed to make a movie for school because I wanted them to be my friends again, but I didn't know how to ask them without lying. While the girls did feel betrayed because I lied to them after we dealt with those feelings, we became inseparable, and in the present day, I see them as my “sisters.”
On Thursday, February 15th, my brothers, Paige and I, had dinner at my parents’ house with our other neighbors, Steven and Robin. Paige and I got there around 7:00, and Mom asked us to get the Chinese food at 7:30. Now, Dad and Josh really like hunting for Treasure with metal detectors. When we got back to my parents’ house, everyone told me that there was something they wanted me to see.
Josh had been using the metal detector, and he had found the back of a ceramic child’s teapot. My entire family and Stephen and Robin were all asking me variations of, “Do you know what that is?”
Based on what everyone told me and what I know about my younger self, this is what happened. There are a line of trees between my parent’s backyard and Stephen and Robin’s. August, Arden, Aspen, and possibly our other neighbor, Melody, were having a tea party under the trees. I got upset because my sworn enemies were in my territory. When I demanded that they leave, and they refused, I smashed the teapot, leading to yet another Anderson/Mitchell fight.
Now, most of that last paragraph is guesswork. All that I actually know is that I broke the teapot. I have asked my “sisters” about this event, and like me, none of them remember it, but based on everyone’s reaction at dinner, this was clearly a major event in my childhood. This could be because we fought so much growing up that all of them have all blurred together, but I believe that this shows how much we have grown.
The name of this season is To Be An Advocate in reference to me, wanting to start a nonprofit to expand my advocacy. Still, I think it’s important to point out that throughout our friendship, my “sisters” have become amazing autism advocates, especially in comparison to when we were little. All this to say I am proud of the women that they have become.
Kid is currently living with Paige and is making plans to travel this summer. Aspen just recently achieved the goal of becoming a realtor in the Cincinnati area. Arden is now a travel nurse and will be spending the next few months in Nashville. And August…well, August is a mom!
To Be Continued…
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