While my sister and I have grown close in our old age, that was not the case when we were children. I was the bratty little sister who made fun of her when she started wearing bras and when pimples starting making their appearance on her face. I also would eavesdrop on her phone conversations and steal (borrow) things from her bedroom. I'm pretty sure I might have snuck a peak into her diary once or twice as well. I did it all out of love, but she didn't see it that way and so didn't really care for my company. When I was old enough to realize the best way to earn her affections was not through annoying the crap out of her, she was already out of the house and in college.
No, my sister was not my biggest fan, nor was she my partner in crime growing up. Those two titles went to my brother, Eric.
My fondest memories of my brother include:
*Conducting the "Ant Olympics" in our backyard sandbox. Events included ant races and ant swimming contests (whose ant could stay afloat in a bucket of water the longest before meeting its untimely death by drowning?).
*Attempting to build a playhouse. Which we didn't finish. Because at some point we realized that it was only big enough for one person curled into a small ball to fit into.
*Playing a game where we took turns locking each other out of the house, and having to find a way in. Popular solutions were crawling in through the kitchen window and crawling in through the bathroom window. One time I locked him out when we weren't playing, and he got a little bit upset. He kicked a door down, and I ran for dear life.
*Fighting, wrestling, kicking, hitting, pinching, biting (I think the pinching and biting were all me. I didn't play by the rules). We were very aggressive with each other, and despite the fact that he was 2 years older and sometimes 2 feet taller than me, he didn't always win those fights. I had sheer force of will on my side. For this reason, he will still warn people that I could most likely kick their butt in a fight, if I wanted it bad enough.
One summer Eric decided to be my personal basketball trainer. I was having a lot of trouble with my layups. For this reason he decided to tie my right hand and my right leg together and then forced me to do layup after layup. I think I got the message after that. Right hand goes up, so does right leg.
After a blizzard one winter where the snow drifts measured several feet high, we and some of our friends spent a night jumping off of our 2nd story deck onto the piles of snow. Some people were really brave and were even maneuvering somersaults off the deck. I wasn't quite that brave, myself.
When we were older teenagers, most of these shenanigans stopped. Instead of fighting and scheming, we spent many a summer night in our basement watching the real world and chowing on some late night mcdonalds, Sheetz hoagies, or KFC. (Hey we were both tall and gangly, we could do those kinds of things without a second thought.. then. He, unfortunately, still can. Me, not so much.)
There was a brief time when I was in 8th grade and Eric was in 10th that we had the same haircut. We looked like twins and people would comment on it all the time. I don't really know which one of us should have been more embarrassed over that one...
He, being the older brother with a license, was also kind enough to drive me around. A lot of big brothers would be embarassed to spend so much time with their little sister. But, not my brother.
When Eric finally left for college I cried. and cried. and cried.... and cried. What was I going to do without my best friend?
Of course, with Eric out of the house, our relationship did inevitably change a little bit.
But we were still known, every now and then, to be partners in crime once again. For example, one weekend while he was home, we stumbled upon the stash of candy my dad was planning to give us in our stockings for Christmas. It was several boxes of nerds, to be precise. So, we ate 80% of the nerds, glued the packages back together, and placed them back where we found them. We laughed hysterically when, a few months later on Christmas morning, we received those (mostly) empty packs of nerds in our stockings.
The day before I got married, Eric drove me to the bank, and told me that he had watched Mike and I grow together over the past few years. He said that he believed we were really good for each other. I took it as his blessing, and it meant the world to me.
Time and distance have brought us further apart than I would like to admit. But, I still love my brother just as much as ever, and I am still fiercely protective of him. Even though we haven't talked about it, I know for certain that he feels the same way about me.
I just feel really lucky to have a brother like him.
No, my sister was not my biggest fan, nor was she my partner in crime growing up. Those two titles went to my brother, Eric.
My fondest memories of my brother include:
*Conducting the "Ant Olympics" in our backyard sandbox. Events included ant races and ant swimming contests (whose ant could stay afloat in a bucket of water the longest before meeting its untimely death by drowning?).
*Attempting to build a playhouse. Which we didn't finish. Because at some point we realized that it was only big enough for one person curled into a small ball to fit into.
*Playing a game where we took turns locking each other out of the house, and having to find a way in. Popular solutions were crawling in through the kitchen window and crawling in through the bathroom window. One time I locked him out when we weren't playing, and he got a little bit upset. He kicked a door down, and I ran for dear life.
*Fighting, wrestling, kicking, hitting, pinching, biting (I think the pinching and biting were all me. I didn't play by the rules). We were very aggressive with each other, and despite the fact that he was 2 years older and sometimes 2 feet taller than me, he didn't always win those fights. I had sheer force of will on my side. For this reason, he will still warn people that I could most likely kick their butt in a fight, if I wanted it bad enough.
One summer Eric decided to be my personal basketball trainer. I was having a lot of trouble with my layups. For this reason he decided to tie my right hand and my right leg together and then forced me to do layup after layup. I think I got the message after that. Right hand goes up, so does right leg.
After a blizzard one winter where the snow drifts measured several feet high, we and some of our friends spent a night jumping off of our 2nd story deck onto the piles of snow. Some people were really brave and were even maneuvering somersaults off the deck. I wasn't quite that brave, myself.
When we were older teenagers, most of these shenanigans stopped. Instead of fighting and scheming, we spent many a summer night in our basement watching the real world and chowing on some late night mcdonalds, Sheetz hoagies, or KFC. (Hey we were both tall and gangly, we could do those kinds of things without a second thought.. then. He, unfortunately, still can. Me, not so much.)
There was a brief time when I was in 8th grade and Eric was in 10th that we had the same haircut. We looked like twins and people would comment on it all the time. I don't really know which one of us should have been more embarrassed over that one...
He, being the older brother with a license, was also kind enough to drive me around. A lot of big brothers would be embarassed to spend so much time with their little sister. But, not my brother.
When Eric finally left for college I cried. and cried. and cried.... and cried. What was I going to do without my best friend?
Of course, with Eric out of the house, our relationship did inevitably change a little bit.
But we were still known, every now and then, to be partners in crime once again. For example, one weekend while he was home, we stumbled upon the stash of candy my dad was planning to give us in our stockings for Christmas. It was several boxes of nerds, to be precise. So, we ate 80% of the nerds, glued the packages back together, and placed them back where we found them. We laughed hysterically when, a few months later on Christmas morning, we received those (mostly) empty packs of nerds in our stockings.
The day before I got married, Eric drove me to the bank, and told me that he had watched Mike and I grow together over the past few years. He said that he believed we were really good for each other. I took it as his blessing, and it meant the world to me.
Time and distance have brought us further apart than I would like to admit. But, I still love my brother just as much as ever, and I am still fiercely protective of him. Even though we haven't talked about it, I know for certain that he feels the same way about me.
I just feel really lucky to have a brother like him.
1 comment:
You and your brother did what??? Love, Mom
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