I am the youngest. My brother was 8 years older than me and he rarely let me forget that as we were growing up. He was so mean to me, he teased me, ran away when I was trying to follow him and taught me how to play 52 pick-up. Come on, you know that game: you ask your little brother (or sister) if they want to play 52 pick-up, when they say yes because they would do just about anything for you, you take a deck of cards and throw them all over the room. You leave while the little brother or sister is picking up the cards.
But you know what? My brother loved me fiercely, ask the neighborhood bully who got caught picking on me. My brother made very sure I was never bullied again. And, in truth, he included me so much more than I had any right to expect. He taught me to play baseball when I was about 3 years old, chess when I was about 4, and set the example of reading at every chance. And I am a better person for it all. I have passed the reading and writing traditions on to my own daughter, who loved her uncle desperately.
My daughter got married a year or so ago. She would not tell me the song she chose for us to walk down the aisle to. My brother loved the Beach Boys and he and my daughter had several afternoons of just the two of them “cruising” in my brother’s truck and listening to the Beach Boys. How he loved my daughter. So, we walked the aisle to “God only knows what I would be without you” and yep, cried like a baby. But my brother was truly at the wedding!
This reminiscence is not an accident, today my brother would have been 71. He has been gone, a victim of cancer, for 14 years. I have missed him a bit each day and can, on occasion, hear his voice. He had a giant heart and, after 22 years as a Marine, his best claim to fame was that he was an expert on Dr. Seuss and read to school kids often. Each time, kids checked out more books from the library. Big tough Marine, giant heart, easy touch when it came to children. It is why I have a tattoo of the Dr. Seuss red and white top hat, that is how I honor and remember him each day.
So, do you have a brother or a sister? Younger or older? Whichever it is, never forget that they helped forge the path you are on and you helped to forge theirs. Please don’t forget. Celebrate it with them today! Because it truly is too late when they are gone. And, if you are an only child, that is okay, you have what we call “fictive” kin that you can celebrate, those who have been like a brother or sister.
Come to think of it, if you are a Christian (or any religion really), you have a life full of brothers and sisters, your spiritual family. How about today, you say a long prayer for them and the next time you see them, treat them like they really are family.
TMM