Birthday
Today is my brother's birthday. I'd say Happy Birthday to him, but he became a Jehovah's Witness several years ago. They don't celebrate birthdays.
I've always considered my brother to be kind of a Wally Cleaver figure in my life. Not that I was a Beaver, of course (snicker), but Wally was, well, the coolest older brother ever. Well, second only, of course, to my brother.
My brother's the kind of guy who would do anything for me. He's a good part of the reason I'm a spoiled younger brother. When he and his friends hung out, I wanted to go with them, and he let me, even though his friends probably didn't really want me to tag along quite so often. At a very early age, he helped me sate my curiosity with his schoolwork, so that I knew how to do long division way before any of my peers did. (Of course, no one in subsequent generations knows how to do it anymore.) We used to spend all kinds of time together. Lots of guys hate having their younger brother around. Okay, well, maybe brother didn't really like having me around, but he tolerated it well enough.
One year, when we were little, my parents decided to send my brother and me to a summer day care program at the local YMCA. (It's fun to stay there.) It was really just some way to keep us occupied during the day while my parents were still working. As my mother stood there, they began dividing us into our respective "groups" to whom we'd be assigned all summer. They announced my brother's assignment and off he went. As I stood there, with my mother right next to me, I started to cry uncontrollably. I mean I was sobbing. That's what kind of security my brother represented to me. Everything would have been all right had we both been assigned to the same group. (Things turned out perfectly fine after that day, of course, save for my complete embarrassment at melting down like that.)
So anyway, it's my brother's birthday. Happy birthday, bro. I don't say it enough, but I love you.
5 comments:
I remember being in my family room with Rosie O'Donnell on VH1 (yeah) and I asked my brother if he wanted to play Micro Machines with me, and he said no. So I ran around the house crying. I had to show him a hatching bug to get him to notice me. And I forgot long division years ago. Fuck that. lol.
I feel like I'm a total mimbo, when I remember stuff like that. :)
It's awesome that you had (and hopefully still do) that close of a relationship with your brother. My brother wasn't born until I was 11 so I basically grew up an only child and so did he. I moved out of the house after high school when I was 18. We're more like old aquaintences with a past history than brothers. It's weird at times and makes me sad to think about. Like I should do more or something. And now that I'm up in the great NW and he's in Iowa it's even harder...
During my college years I spent a summer as a counselor at one of those YMCA day camps. If I had been your counselor when you started crying I would have hugged you and held you until you stopped. And then Child Protective Services would have hauled me away. But at least we would have shared a moment.
Happy Birthday to em anyway.
I'm an only child, but always wanted a cool older brother like yours! You're lucky, Dennis. And happy b-day to your bro! :)
Post a Comment