My Brother

Yes, I have a brother. I am not sure that I have mentioned him before on my blog.

This is one of my favorite pictures of us. It just screams 70s doesn’t it??

We are almost ten years apart and as a child I did not like him much. The main reason I did not like him was that I felt certain my parents liked him more than me. My reasoning behind this thought was that they let him stay up later at night and allowed him to do more things. Apparently my eight year old brain could not figure out that our parents were not going to make an eighteen year old go to bed at 8:30. To me, this was just playing favorites and was not okay. And clearly, it was entirely all his fault.

I know my brother reads my blog, but I am not sure what he will think of an entry about him. I guess we will find out soon enough.

Some things about my brother:

• He signed me up for his soccer team when I was a baby. Our Mother saved the application.

• Has made me an aunt four times over. For the first time when I was in the 8th grade! The last two are twin boys, and the other is my sweet niece.

• He was in the Navy.

• Bought me a 45 record of Locomotion by Kylie Minogue in the 80s. I still have it. And listen to it from time to time. Yes, I have a working record player.

• He and our Dad used to wrestle a lot. I never rooted for him. I smiled big when my brother would finally utter the word “uncle”.

• When I passed out during a church play, his was the first face I saw when I came to. I could not believe my brother had come to my rescue!

• He was born on Easter.

• We often times played football in the house when he babysat me. He would play on his knees so that we were eye level. We were not supposed to do this and were often caught.

 

• He walked our Mother down the aisle at my wedding. This meant a lot to her.

• He once caught our kitchen on fire when melting wax on the stove. I am ashamed to say that I actually enjoyed watching him get in trouble for it. **Please remember I did not like him much when I was little.

• He did not believe our Mother when she told him I cried my eyes out when he left for boot camp in San Diego. It is true and is something that I will never forget. I stood at the window in the airport crying uncontrollably. I could not believe it would be months before I would see him again.

• His first car was a green Ford Maverick, which had belonged to our great-grandmother.

• Once bought me a snickers and a Dr. Pepper so that I would not blab to our parents that his car (the Maverick) ran out of gas and we had to walk to the gas station. I never told. I absolutely love snickers and Dr. Pepper and I can be bought.

• I used to call him Bubba. I am not sure when or why I stopped.

Having a sibling that is so much older than me enabled me to learn so much from him. I am forever grateful for it….and he knows it.

Oh, and today is his birthday!

Happy Birthday, Big Brother.