365 Days Of Love. Day 81

The summer before I started preschool, new neighbors moved two houses down from us. The night they moved in, my sister and I watched from afar as the three new kids to the neighborhood explored their surroundings. By the time they were unpacked, it was our bedtime. Although we asked our mom to extend our day’s finale so we could mosey down to the new kids’ house, she declined and promised permission for the next morning. With that, my sister and I went to our shared bedroom and fell asleep sharing stories of what we thought our new friends would be like.

Sleep stripped me of any bravery I had conjured up the night before and when morning came, I blamed a fly on my bed (literally)  for my inability to accompany my sister down the street to greet the new neighbors. Jen was easily independent and strolled solo down the street and met our three new neighborhood kids. Casey was Jen’s age, Kim was my age, and Kelsey was my little brother’s age. My sister had an undeniably wonderful first interaction with the Nagels and wanting to, uncharacteristically, share something good with me, she skipped back down to our house, Casey and Kim in tow, and wrangled me outside. From that first meeting, Kim and I were the best of friends and the combined six Sturdevant-Nagel kids meshed into one E 12^th Street family.

Lucy Nagel, Kim’s mom, babysat us so we naturally spent our days together, gathered around her kitchen table as she taught us how to make beautiful art projects. We loved when she made us mac and cheese with hotdogs for lunch and we gladly spent our afternoons tossing and turning on the monkey bars in the backyard. Kim and I co-wrote a budget once in attempt to save a whopping 5 dollars, hoping it would buy us a pet from the local pet store. The four older kids would dare Brian (my little brother) and Kelsey to kiss and the six of us would walk or ride bike to the general store and buy penny candy (totally a designated expense in our budget).

When my parents stripped my bike of its training wheels, I refused to let me dad teach me how to ride it. One evening, determined to learn, I strapped on my helmet, took my bike out of the garage, lined it up on the sidewalk and simply stared at it. Casey, noticing I was obviously in turmoil, approached me and offered a hand. Within minutes, I was riding my bike without training wheels. One time, the six of us were walking to school and we dared Kim to knock over a neighbor’s snowman. She did and we were followed and threatened by the cops as a result. Never ones to be in trouble, we relished our togetherness as the uniformed gentleman raised his voice at us.

When I think about the few years that the Nagels lived down the street from us, I’m reminded of the second family they became. So many events in those pivotal years of early development were directly impacted by the Nagels. It has been years since I’ve seen Lucy or Mark, Casey, Kim, Kelsey, and Mac (he was born shortly before the Nagels moved to the other side of town), but I contribute so much of my sense of community to them. They taught me the value of having people to share life with , the importance of best friends.

The Nagels taught me that loving is looking beyond blood when considering those who I consider

family.