When our Grandmother moved for the last time, the only ones left at the new house amid mountains of stacked boxes were my cousins Joey and Rovin and my bother Jay and me. The first recollection I have of that moment is playing hide and seek. I can hear Joey singing the lollipop song. He always sang the lollipop song when he was "it" instead of counting. On that particular day, he found a sombrero somewhere. He wore it when he went to find us. He looked ridiculous. I'm relatively certain he wore it to get us to laugh thus revealing our hiding place.
Down the street from my Grandmother's new home was a family grocer and penny candy shop called, "My Store". We loved walking down to the shop to purchase our little bags of candy. Of course, they also sold milk, bread, eggs, and other items. However, to all of us children it was a special place where we could buy candy for a penny.
My cousin Joey was the youngest of his siblings. He used to tell people I was his little sister. I honestly believe he really just didn't want to be the youngest child. He loved the band Kiss. He loved that I'd sit and listen with him. He and his older brother were eleven months apart. His Grandmother told me an old wives tale that they were twins. She said Joey wasn't ready to be born yet. That's why Lando was born first. I was just a child. I believed her. Years later I told him about it. We got a good laugh. He said, he always felt a few steps behind. Perhaps that's why he felt that way.
Joey taught me how to play the bass guitar. He taught me how to skateboard. He taught me how to ride my first bike. He taught me how to swim and snorkle. He was there the first time I climbed a tree, road a horse, flew a kite, and paddled a canoe. He sounds like a big brother to me. I should probably mention that my first guitar, amp, and gear as well as my first skateboard and first bike were lightly used hand me downs from Joey. He didn't just teach me how to do things but also how to take care of what I owned. He taught me it was okay to try new things. He taught me to always take pride in what I do because only I do it the way I do it. I've never forgotten any of it.
He also taught me not to stress too much about what other people think about me. You're alright as long as your opinion of yourself is still good. Sometimes I forget this one. I'm always working on it. I remember giving him a hard time over this really young girl he dated. She was not very bright (and I'm really being generous here). Her voice was unusually high pitched. She had this cat named Chelsea. Weird that I remember that after all this time. She used to tie a big red bow around its neck. I really only remember the cat because his brother and I thought we were hallucinating during a visit. We noticed the cat casually walking up the wall. It wasn't until later that Joey laughingly told us the cat does this easily because the walls in his apartment are carpeted.
About that first time I road a horse, I was with Joey's family. I was on a horse that was trained to walk circles around this track. Someone had opened the gate. Many of the horses including mine had walked out. It was fun but also a little frightening. I remember knowing I was safe when Joey ran up alongside my horse, took the reins, asked if I was okay, and lead the horse back. Joey is only five years older than me. I can't explain why but I always felt safe just knowing he was nearby.
