Steven Anderson

Today I am grateful for...

Steve Anderson

Steve is my older brother, and someone I look up to a great deal.

Steve is the oldest of the 4 Anderson children, and was therefore, the favorite. I want that established now and well - Everybody loves Steven the best. That being said, our childhood was pretty idyllic.  We grew up on Harrison Street, where every house on our block had a young family similar to ours.  There was never a lack of kids to play with, or things to do.  These things were not electronic, or wireless, and it usually involved something homemade.  Kids can have fun without electronic gadgets~

I can vividly remember his first day of kindergarten. I was devastated to lose my playmate for 4 hours a day. I watched him get on the bus, and I fell asleep on the coffee table awaiting his return. 

Steven is 4 years my senior, so his friends were pretty much my first crushes..oh, Jimmy Thorburn..did you know when I fell down those basement stairs right in front of you, my embarrassment was beyond words??  They were over alot, and Nerf Basketball was a constant activity - right in the family room and kitchen. I can't count how many Nerf balls ended up in a pot of soup my mom was making at the time. 

The summers were filled with baseball games in our backyard...Anderson Field. My dad even built a dug out.  Since I was the only girl, I wasn't allowed to play. I was the bat girl.  Fun.  There would be 90 degree days and triple headers planned.  It would take my mom yelling from the house for us all to come in and get cooled off for the boys to quit.  Likewise, the winters were filled with snowforts and snowball fights.  On a snow day, the beautiful white blanket that caused this beautiful event would be completely demolished by 10am. I still can't understand kids today..I see a snowday, and the snow never gets touched!  Just as in the summer, my mom would drag us in, soaking wet and moments from hypothermia to thaw with hot chocolate.  It didn't get better than our neighborhood in the 70's and 80's.  It seemed to last forever...nobody moved away, and we all just kept getting older.

One very defining moment for Steven was his Junior year in high school.  His best friend was murdered after school, in the hallway behind the locker rooms.  Steve was there and saw it happen, and was there when his friend died.  I remember coming home that day, I think my mom and I had been at a doctor appointment for me, because I had missed school. Steve was standing on the the front porch, covered in blood and looking like I had never seen before.  The next few weeks in Romulus were a time of grief, sorrow and confusion.  There were so many people who wanted to attend the funeral, that it was held in the high school auditorium.  My dad was a minister at the time, and he officiated the service.  How sad to see a group of strong, young wrestlers carry their teammates coffin.  It really seemed unreal at the time.

Not more than 6 months later, it was our younger brother being buried.  Once again, a defining moment for Steven, but also for all of my family.  To this day, when I think back to remember any time period or event, I put it in one of two categories: Before Tommy died or after Tommy died.  It's funny, because absolutely nothing happened in the months while he was sick.  That was the focus of our lives, andeverything revolved around his cancer.  It was more than difficult to say the least - but there have been many times in my life when I was able to share my story and know that it was doing something positive for the person I shared with...and that would have made Tommy happy.

We spent a good 10 years or so with little contact - he went off to college, then I went off to college, then he to a job, and I to a job, and we began te process of becoming independant adults. We would see each other at the required events,but no real relationship that we had on our own.

That has changed, and I am glad.  Steven is pursuing ministry, and that makes me proud.  After being brought up in a faith that required much of us, it was difficult not to try to see what the world had to offer.  It was just as easy to realize the world had nothing to offer - only we had to figure that out on our own. 

Steven is a wonderful husband and father, a business owner and a mentor. But he is an awesome brother,  I'm proud to be his sister, and I love him.