Today is my brother’s birthday. I don’t know how many of you have a brother, but they can be a mixed blessing, can’t they? My brother is about two years older than I am, but I think brothers are brothers. Can anyone else relate to the following?
Growing up, he would bounce the basketball off of my head or other body part and claim I would have to go retrieve it because it hit me last.
When I entered high school as a freshman and he was a junior, he told everyone I was his cousin, not his sister.
He would come into my bedroom in the morning and either wake me up by lifting the foot of the bed and dropping it multiple times or flipping the light switch on and off until my eyeballs rolled backward. (No idea why he was awake before I was.)
Often he would grab me by my legs and drag me across miles of shag carpeting till I got rug burns, or take the other extreme and pin me down and tickle me until it hurt.
Though I could add a few more, lest you think he only tortured me, let me share a few other experiences.
One night he came in, woke me up (for which I yelled at him), then handed me an acoustic guitar and case that he bought for me out of the blue. (Kept my mouth shut after that.)
When I graduated from college, he rented a private plane (and pilot) to fly him and his fiancé to my graduation. (No idea where he got that money as he was working for the IRS at the time. Hmmmm.) Then he volunteered to drive me the five hours home. This was before the accelerator cable broke, and he then had to keep one hand on the steering wheel while the other worked the cable—for five hours!
A couple of years ago, he and his wife got up at three in the morning to sit on the Denver airport tarmac while their plane was deiced, then take off through a blizzard, just to surprise me for my birthday.
Then just this past week, while we were both visiting my parents, he rode/drove with me on a one-day, eleven-hour, round-trip drive so that I could make sure my home was OK. Though friends had told me the fire had moved west, I needed to see for myself. He never questioned––just volunteered.
God has blessed me with wonderful parents and incredible sisters, but He also has given me an incredibly wonderful, protective, thoughtful, and sometimes pain in the backside brother, whom I love very, very much. Happy Birthday, Doug!
Growing up, he would bounce the basketball off of my head or other body part and claim I would have to go retrieve it because it hit me last.
When I entered high school as a freshman and he was a junior, he told everyone I was his cousin, not his sister.
He would come into my bedroom in the morning and either wake me up by lifting the foot of the bed and dropping it multiple times or flipping the light switch on and off until my eyeballs rolled backward. (No idea why he was awake before I was.)
Often he would grab me by my legs and drag me across miles of shag carpeting till I got rug burns, or take the other extreme and pin me down and tickle me until it hurt.
Though I could add a few more, lest you think he only tortured me, let me share a few other experiences.
One night he came in, woke me up (for which I yelled at him), then handed me an acoustic guitar and case that he bought for me out of the blue. (Kept my mouth shut after that.)
When I graduated from college, he rented a private plane (and pilot) to fly him and his fiancé to my graduation. (No idea where he got that money as he was working for the IRS at the time. Hmmmm.) Then he volunteered to drive me the five hours home. This was before the accelerator cable broke, and he then had to keep one hand on the steering wheel while the other worked the cable—for five hours!
A couple of years ago, he and his wife got up at three in the morning to sit on the Denver airport tarmac while their plane was deiced, then take off through a blizzard, just to surprise me for my birthday.
Then just this past week, while we were both visiting my parents, he rode/drove with me on a one-day, eleven-hour, round-trip drive so that I could make sure my home was OK. Though friends had told me the fire had moved west, I needed to see for myself. He never questioned––just volunteered.
God has blessed me with wonderful parents and incredible sisters, but He also has given me an incredibly wonderful, protective, thoughtful, and sometimes pain in the backside brother, whom I love very, very much. Happy Birthday, Doug!
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