My Brother: From Bookworm Salesman to Commonwealth Coder

 This post isn’t about me, but it wouldn’t be a story about someone I share a past with, without mentioning that my family lovingly teases me that I speak of our homelessness as a teen, A LOT. And this particular post is going to mention…”When we were homeless…” 

My brother NEVER went to high school. I did. But only for a couple of months. And that was only to keep our parents out of hot water from us being truant. Don Vest (I’ve never referred to my brother as anything but Donnie. I am not sure how I feel about calling him by our Dad’s name.) last attended public school at Bowling Green Junior High. This was roughly around 1986. He has since attended college at a couple of institutions, but something has always gotten in the way of finishing his degree. 

Not to be crass, but we both were students of the School of Hard Knocks and learned quite a lot on the road. My brother’s lessons were different from mine. And if I’m honest, a whole hell of a lot more harsh. You see, for three years, my ‘little’ brother was the bread winner of our family. His Opie Griffith blonde hair, Alfalfa freckles and Alfred E. Neuman ears captured the attention of hundreds, if not thousands of small business employees all over the southeast for those grueling three plus years.

Donnie watches as Dad makes coffee and or a meal suing a Coleman camp stove on the hood of our 1963 Plymouth Fury III- a retired police car in the early 80’s during our first round of homeless as we trekked from Kentucky to Florida. Donnie was around 8 years old, here. 

Our longest stay on the road, visiting Mom’s family in Cullman, Alabama. We were around 10 and 13 here. Donnie was irresistible to the crooning ladies as he rattled off his sales pitches. 

Mom would make these crocheted bookmarks “Designer Bookworms”; they were the hottest things since the Pet Rock, and Donnie was the face and main sales person of these fifty cent pieces that fed us and got us gas to the next town. (Notice I called him Donnie this time. I must have decided I don’t like calling him by Dad’s name.) Donnie was it. He HAD to do this. If he didn’t, we didn’t eat. What an unimaginable burden on a little boy. Someday I will attempt to write my account of that time our family lived in our 1971 white over green Buick LeSabre for three years. My memory of that time is vastly different than that of my brother’s. But the one constant is that he was responsible for much of our survival. My brother, the 10-13 year old Bookworm Salesman and bread winner for a family of four and at least one dog.

The last 25 years or so are not my story to fill in. So I will leave that for him to cover in his own time and on his own blog. I do know that his starts and stops in college were what I imagine to be exhilarating starts and frustrating stops. If I am not mistaken, his last attempt at college was at WKU at which he was doing really well until a terrible bike accident resulting in broken bones and subsequent surgery pressed the stop button. 

Donnie met and fell in love with a beautiful girl, Samantha. My Sister In Law. He encouraged her to get her GED and after that, she was full steam ahead, AAS degree, then Bachelors in Social Work. She is currently employed and using that degree, (and working toward her Masters, I think)  but I don’t want to name where, out of respect for her privacy and safety. Samantha is the wind in Donnie’s sails and encourages him and cheers for him daily as he pursues an education in computer coding. I simply provided snarky remarks of  “Go get ‘em” and GIFS fit for the occasion- and I am the Queen of GIFS, if you didn’t know. 

In all seriousness, tomorrow is the Big Day for my brother. He will graduate Commonwealth Coders Web Development Training for Kentuckians. These past weeks have been an enormous undertaking for him. Keeping up with everything and going to school is some serious business. An investment in the future. A bright ass future. A future filled with great ideas, serious work ethic and a smidge of arrogance that will benefit anyone who hires him, knowing they will get a person that will stop at nothing to provide the very best. If his name is to be on it, it will be worth it. 

Congratulations, Donnie. Know that I am tuning in and will be there in all my Big Sister Spirit tomorrow. I love you more than you know and had no doubt you could do this. Now…get out there and kick some coding butt.