Oh Brother!

The call came yesterday, right in the middle of an already hectic day. "What are you up to today?" It was my younger brother. He and his wife had come into town to celebrate their anniversary.



Now, I know that some families see each other all the time, but this is not the case with my family. Although I would consider us close, I generally only see my siblings on holidays with the rare exception in between. We all live within a few hours of each other but are busy managing our own families and find it difficult to just catch up with each other.



I did not know that my brother and his wife were coming to town and they were hoping for some of our time. I must be honest, my first thought was, "This is not a good day for this." I had one child headed to a birthday party and we had not yet purchased the gift, another child was getting ready for prom and I was the designated photographer and another child had been patiently waiting for me to proofread her end of the year research paper. To say I was feeling a little overwhelmed was an understatement.



Of course I immediately ammended that thought and invited them to dinner, a movie and to stay overnight. As he accepted my offer, I began to think of the parts of my house that needed to be cleaned up in preparation of their arrival. That is just my nature. I pushed the thoughts aside and went on with the day. As I checked off one thing at a time, I began to think, "I can do this!" By the time I met up with my brother and sister in-law and sat down in the theatre, I could feel the stress melting away.



We laughed through the movie and stayed up late talking. This morning we slept in and spent the day playing board games and just enjoying each other's company. This became a very special day. This is my "baby" brother. He is several years younger than me and was not even a teenager when I left for college. I often feel that I missed out on so much of his life. I didn't go to his high school events and had my first child before he graduated. I love him dearly, but because of our age difference, I sometimes feel very old next to him. I treasure the moments where it is just us connecting to each other.



Because of this day, I have made a commitment to work harder to keep that connection strong between both my brother, my sister and myself. I have realized that once our children are grown and our parents have passed on, siblings are often the last link.



Thanks bro' for the impromtu call and the great weekend! Love you!