My youngest brother turned 40 today, as I mentioned yesterday. I can’t help but to look back at how very excited I was as an 11 year old girl, when I heard the news that we were going to have a baby in our house! My parents didn’t seem quite as excited by that news, because their youngest child was 10. I can relate to that now that I’m older and a parent myself, but at the time I really didn’t get it.
I can’t help but to remember how nervous everyone was; my dad, my grandparents, all adults around me, when my brother was born six weeks early. He was a scrawny little thing weighing 5 lbs 5 oz at birth, soon dropping to 3 lbs… and ugly too, but I didn’t mention that to anyone except my closest friend. I hoped he would grow out of that, and for the most, part he did. 🙂
I can’t help but to think of all the times as a teenager, when I would take him with me to the store, to the zoo, to a movie, and people would tell me what a cute little boy I had. That was weird for me, but I would just smile and tell them he was my little brother.
I can’t help but to think of his 8th birthday when my newly married older brother and his wife, and my newly acquired husband and I gathered at my parents’ home to celebrate. My just-turned 18 year old brother, who still lived at home, was there as well. He told us good-bye that night before he left to hang out with friends, and he never came home. His was killed in a car accident. Our lives were forever changed. Sadly, my little brother’s birthday, and my other little brother’s death will always be intertwined.
I can’t help but to remember my brother and his first girlfriend, and how he acted around her. My little brother was growing up. And then his next girlfriend, the love of his life, his best friend today, his wife. And when he became a father will forever remain in my mind. And the tears in his eyes when he told us they had miscarried another baby before his youngest daughter was born.
I can’t help but to think of the man he has become, a loving, caring, creative and talented man who loves God with his whole heart. And then I smile.
I count is an honor to know this man. To love him as my brother, and my friend.