KIM

My sister, Kim, ran away from home the day before she turned eighteen. That was April 19^th, 1975. I was sixteen at the time. I watched her take out the screen from her bedroom window. Her friend Jamie had just pulled up in front of our house in her parents old 1964 Chrysler station wagon. Kim handed her clothes and a few personal belonging out the window to Jamie. She then crawled out the window into the front yard. She stopped and turned back to me and said, “Bye little brother.” All that I said was, “Goodbye Kim.”

 

She liked to call me little brother because she was only five foot one and I was already six foot two. I think that she knew that she could have legally just walked away the next day. That would not have been dramatic enough for her.

 

My sister was in her room because she was in trouble again. As she drove away I calmly walked into the house and informed my parents that she had left. They wanted to be alarmed but they really were not surprised. It was just a continuation of their disappointment. She has been on the run ever since.

 

Kim soon had two children. She amazingly had them both in the same year. Michael in January and Anthony in December. It was only a short time later that they both in the permanent custody of our parents Jim & Gerry. Kim and her husband Mike were unfit to be parents.

 

Kim had started her string of failed relationships. It seemed that every single one was worse than his predecessor. At one point Kim announced that she was getting married again. I reminded her that she had never got a divorce. She didn’t care. Right after they were married, the guy went to prison.

 

She somehow ended up with the ultimate Meth freak, Dave. They have lived in cars, under trees and anywhere they could find. I believe that they are doing repo work and being nighttime security for a used car lot in exchange for staying in an old trailer that is on the lot. Dave is basically a junkyard dog, with a drug habit.

 

Kim calls me every couple of years. Usually with some bizarre comments on what I should be doing for her. The conversations are terse. She always says that she is trying to get away and start over. I always end by telling her that I love her.

 

My wife and I have suffered the pain of loosing our precious Daughter. My parents suffer with having a lost daughter. It is a nightmare that has had no end. I asked my Dad if he ever stopped loving Kim. He responded without hesitation, “Never, not for a moment.” My Mom has never given up hope and prays for Kim daily.

 

In a selfish vein, I feel cheated that I don’t have a big sister. When my kids were growing up they asked why they never had an Aunt, even though they knew that I had a sister. I know that is nothing compared to what Kim has put herself thru. I know that she has suffered with drug addictions. Guys that I would not call men have abused Kim. She has done some of the most degrading things humanly possible to herself. She is missing a couple of toes from a self-inflicted shotgun wound. She has aged way beyond her years.

 

My mother longs for her daughter and has always tried to keep the lines of communication open. She has tried to take Kim in many times only to be repaid with theft and abuse. The daily sadness of Kim’s life wears constantly on both of my parents. They have endured thirty-four years of waiting for either a change or the ultimate bad news. It is never easy to talk about.

 

A guy named Les, which knew Kim when they were kids, contacted me today. He asked how she was and asked how to contact her. He told me that some of her old friends were interested in seeing if they could make a difference in her life. Les said that Kim might tell him to take a flying leap, but he and a few others were going to see if they could help.

 

God’s speed Les

 

EP