Wedding Party
Alexandra Marín
Lena's Cousin
The best sister I never had. Alex has been a steadfast support and a role-model my entire life. From refusing to leave her Bat Mitzvah after party even though it was past my bedtime, to following her to University of Colorado-Boulder after she brought me to a CU party while I was in 8th grade, and eventually getting my Master's in Social Work just like her, she's been the best sister-cousin a gal could ask for.
Alex Bue
Brendan's Dear Friend
Alex and I met over a game of Power Rangers at our Oakland preschool in the early 1990s. While I was originally drawn to him because he had Gushers and Nickelodeon and Warhammers at his house, we stayed close through our moody brooding teenage years. Alex and I saw our first concert together (Tenacious D, 2006). We traded books and CDs and, later, couches to sleep on. We walked and talked and walked and talked until we were grown adults, and still I'm not tired of this guy. He's moving to Chicago this year, and we'll live in the same place for the first time since we were teenagers--a perfect circle.
Lo Bashin-Sullivan
Brendan's Sibling
5 years less one month (to the day!) after me came Lolo. I remember filling their baby basket with my Halloween candy as they grinned and drooled over the top of the pile. 20 plus years of important life milestones, family vacations, and obsessive TV viewing later, we communicate mostly with goofy faces, Simpsons scenes, and that game where you try to slap the other person's hand. But in that time something amazing happened! Yesteryear's baby sibling up and turned into a flawlessly stylish, creative, curious, compassionate (and vegan) fully grown person! If I am Lolo's "big brother" how, I wonder, did I end up looking up to them?