My Life - Chapter 17 - Next Door Neighbors

I lived in five homes in Janesville between the time my parents moved me there at 6 months until I went to college.  I only remember two.

Home was on Garfield Avenue during kindergarten, first, and second grade.  That summer, we moved a couple miles to our new home on Forest Park Boulevard.

Our home on Forest Park Boulevard, Janesville.
11/9/2013 dwm photo

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There are just a few neighbors I remember.  On Garfield, the Bolton family lived next door.  The kids in the house were several years older and I don't remember the neighbors on the other side of our home.

On Forest Park, the neighbors on both sides attended the church we did, St. Paul Lutheran Church, which was on the same block.  The church had a school I attended from kindergarten through ninth grade.  Sue and Marty were the girls living on one side.  They were a few years older, but always friendly.  Their parents paid me a few times to cut their grass when they were out of town.

On the other side was a family with five children including a boy in my class at St. Paul's.

Since we lived just around the block from school, I stopped at their house each morning to walk with Andy.  Most of the time he was eating breakfast, or about to eat when I arrived.  He had three older siblings and a younger brother who accepted me.  Very soon after I was told to stop knocking and walk in.

Andy posed for a photo before taking it
to the hoop.  Fall 1972.  (dwm)

Morning was different in their house than mine with every one responsible for their own morning meal.  If he was up early, sometimes Andy and I shot baskets before going to school.

Because we lived so close, we walked home for lunch, usually getting back before our classmates were out for recess.

Starting in third grade and until high school graduation, I walked with Andy or his older sister Cindi.  A few times I walked with Ryan or Jenny, the oldest in the clan and twins.  There must have been a few times Nate walked with us too.  

Before becoming neighbors I didn't know much about sports.  Andy was a better athlete, which happens when you have an older brother and sisters to show you the ropes, and he helped me a lot.  Our house had the bigger yard, so baseball and football games happened in what I called "Stump - Weed Memorial Stadium."

We didn't play touch-football.  

It seemed to me that Andy's sisters were the secret weapon for either team since only their brothers were likely to tackle them.

Beyond sports, Andy introduced me to music.  He had a nice stereo in his room and a good album collection.  I came to like Billy Joel and Fleetwood Mac.  I still enjoy their music.

Andy's mom did a lot of baking.  She made chocolate chip cookies with 'butter nuts.'  I didn't like nuts and usually would turn down anything with them, but the hot, tasty cookies were an exception.

In 1975, my parents arranged for me to stay with them when my sister was born.  As I recall, she was born early, Dad was home before 9 and I slept in my own bed that night.  But that was after I ate squirrel for supper with Andy's family.

Their family like to hunt on the family's farm a couple hours away and that was on the menu.  It was the one and only time I ate squirrel.  It was good and tasted like chicken.

I was twelve when Danielle was born.  Occasionally, mom would have me to watch her while she went to a meeting or to volunteer.  I didn't know how to change a diaper, so if that happened I carried her next door hoping to find either Cindi or Jenny.  They were both willing to help and bailed me and Danielle out every time.

Andy, grade 8
Yearbook photo 

    I saw the fights between brothers and sisters that vanished if there was adversity from another source.  I experienced the companionship and saw the bond they had and still have as siblings.

   It was probably in the spring before Danielle was born that I invited Andy to join our family on a picnic and hike at Governor Dodge State Park (I'm not 100% sure, but that was one of our favorite places not far from home).

  On the drive to the park it was raining.  Andy asked if we were really going to hike in the bad weather.  Mom said she wasn't worried and the weather would be fine.  By the time we got to the park skies were clear and there was sunshine.  I remember Andy being impressed.

Me grade 8.  Mom
wasn't happy I didn't
dress up for picture
day!

 St. Paul's added 9th grade a couple years before we needed it.  That meant we could move directly from our small classroom to the crowded halls at Craig High School. It was a big adjustment, but it helped to have close friends there already.  Andy and I didn't have class together, but was in the same grade. Cindi was a grade ahead and  Jenny and Ryan were two years ahead.

We kept walking throughout high school.  Craig was further than St. Paul's but less than a mile so unless the weather was really bad, we walked.  The only 'cool' way to carry books at the time were in laundry bags cinched tight and carried over the shoulder.

Through the years they hosted several foreign exchange students.  I enjoyed walking with Malin (Sweden) and Joyce (Malyasia) during the years they were part of the family next door.

Andy visited me at Drake over the holidays and came to visit when we lived out in Pierre.  The weekend he came was interrupted by the first murder in the city for several years.  As the only TV reporter in town, I had to cover it and brought him along.  He was watching as I shot video of the coroner removing the body from the motel room on a gurney.  Andy's an artist.  While visiting us he did a sketch of our son Matthew we have to this day.

When we came back to Wisconsin to work at WISC-TV, I got tickets to a Badger basketball game.  Andy went with me to a game January 15, 1991.  It was winter break.  Our seats were in the mostly empty student section.  During the game, students protesting the Gulf War started banging on the Fieldhouse doors.  There was a brief interruption of the telecast, but it was halftime and the game continued without incident.  After the game ended, we walked to his place without any trouble.

I'm blessed that after moving away we stayed in touch.  I visited with Andy's Dad several times when visiting my mom when she moved back to Janesville in 2013.  I reconnected with Cindi in Madison; saw Nate in Janesville; and stay in touch with Ryan, Jenny, Andy, and their Mom through social media.

A couple years ago our love of the same music brought us together as we attended the Fleetwood Mac concert in Milwaukee.

We don't get together as often as we'd like, unfortunately some of the recent emails or conversations were after experiencing a loss, but when we do it's like nothing changed - which makes us more than next-door neighbors.  We're family and Andy's my brother.