My brother has known me longer than any other person living on this earth. He knows me pretty well and yet he still loves me. Yes, imagine that! Where most brothers tend to pick on their younger siblings, mine never really did. I think because he was eleven when I was born, and the fact that we have no other siblings, that he was really proud to have me, even if I was a girl! As a matter of fact, he's always seemed a little more partial to girls. He loved his own daughter tremendously, and is now raising his oldest grandaughter who he also adores.
I remember watching home movies of my eleven year old brother carrying me around as a fat little baby. You could see his sense of pride in the fact that he was playing the role of the "big brother". I am told he was the one who first carried me to church. Growing up I always wanted to go wherever he went. Driving to the corner store to buy balogna or going to Burger King on Sunday night after church with his friends.
As the years went by, he graduated from high school about the same time I was starting grade school. He attended college a couple of years before he got married and moved out of our house. Even then, as a young teenager I felt a close attachment to him and wanted to spend all the time I could with him and his wife, having sleepovers at their house or going out to eat with them on Sunday afternoons after church.
My brother and I are alike in a lot of ways and yet different too. He has beautiful handwriting, I on the other hand, do not. He is left-handed like our mother, I am not. He takes his time to think about things and work them through, I tend to be more impulsive and just want to get the job done and move on to something else.
We are alike in the fact that we both delight in sharing pictures, going on new adventures, and working with numbers. We both have a love for the Bible and discussing it's practical application to life. Sometimes I wonder if I learned to appreciate these things from him, or would I have enjoyed these things anyway.
My brother is the type of person who would do anything for you. During my Senior year in high school, he offered for me to come and live with him and his wife during a time that was extremely difficult for me. Our parents were going through a divorce and it seemed only natural that we should be together. He and his wife took care of me during my college years until I found my life mate and was married. Since that time, he also became a brother to my husband who never knew what it was like to have a brother. His wife is like the sister I never had.
I have often thought that if something happened to my husband, I would always have my brother. He would help me get through whatever comes my way. I could never imagine ever being without him to lean on. But the truth is, since he is eleven years older than me, he may not always be there. And since he has had such a tremendous impact on my life, I just want him and everyone else to know that I have the best brother anyone could ever have or ever imagine on this earth. Our relationship, which has lasted over 51 years, is very special and I am so grateful to him for giving me so much and sharing his life and his wife with our family.
