Last week, I read a post where the writer claimed that “brothers stink”. As I read the writer’s experience with her brother, I felt so sad for her, because I love my brothers. (I have two brothers and two sisters.) That feeling was reinforced last week when my oldest brother came for a quick NYC visit with his wife. When he left, both Sean (my youngest son) and I were not happy. We negotiated that he would come for a longer visit in the summer when the weather was nicer.
When you’re from a large family, you have different relationships with each sibling. As the youngest, I happen to adore my oldest brother James. I both love and like him. He is the shyest of the five kids. He is also the quietest, so when he speaks, we all listen. I remember him being my protector and my ally. (As the “baby” of the family, he would always fend for me…even when I was in the wrong!) Now as a woman, I appreciate the type of man that he is. He is such a solid man. He loves God, his wife and his family. He is dependable, smart, hard-working and talented. I would be more than thrilled if my sons grew up to be like him (and their Daddy, of course).
My brother lives in Virginia with the vast majority of my family, so he doesn’t get to spend a lot of times with my boys. I was so happy to see that they bonded so quickly though. Sean was able to spend the most time with him, because he came during the school week. (That is why Sean staged a protest when it was time for my brother to leave.) They connected over one of Sean’s favorite things…puzzles! My brother got down on the floor with Sean and they had a “Who can finish their puzzle first?” competition. When Sean won the first time, I mentioned to my brother, “You don’t have to let him win. We let them lose sometimes.” “I’m not letting him!” my brother responded. Suffice it to say, at the end of my brother’s stay, the tally was Sean: 4/Brother: 0. (I was cracking up, because they were both talking trash and cheating by the end…all in good fun.)
Although my brother’s stay was brief, he made sure that he was able to spend some bonding time with Michael too. James doesn’t like video games, but he played when he found out that Michael really loves them. We warned him that Michael was really good at the Wii boxing game. (He is notorious for knocking adults out!) When they played, Michael won the first two games. Then, I remembered that my brother was a lefty too. We switched his character’s profile to be left-handed…and finally, he won!
Take a peek…
Michael winning
James winning
All of that to say… brothers rock, especially mine!