There are so many words I could have selected for this letter.
Justified, joyful, jaunt (a very long one) yet I ultimately chose JOVIAL.
I picked it because it was how I felt when my spouse and I reconnected with my brother (pictured below) over a fifteen hour phone call. Which is truly amazing, considering the three of us hadn’t spoken in as many years.
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| My big brother in the downstairs room where he first played me Hotel California on his new stereo. TAKEN: 1983 |
Growing up, I was the youngest and he the eldest of four.
Though I have many vibrant memories, my mom making him sit with me to go through the Sears Wish Book catalogue when I was about seven stands out; I can see us sitting at his desk.
That specific exercise was to help her establish what I was hoping Santa was going to bring, which must have been a drag, because as my senior he knew the real deal.
All these years later, I know he did it because he was made to, but I think he will be surprised to read that I still remember our very first Christmas in Ontario at 190 Shier Street like it was yesterday.
Growing up, I was always in awe of him. He had cool friends, played in a band, did well in school, and always seemed to have a very specific direction. I'm sure the latter had something to do with my mother but I can’t say for sure.
In our clan, he was the first and I the last. Bookends per se, for all the family adventures and stories the others grew up with. He was closest to our mother before her death, me to our dad before his.
As I share the photo I do tonight, you can see I tore it trying to take it out and scan it. So once again this challenge, I share another Kodak moment that is a picture of a picture. Funny how times have digitally changed.
As my big bro sent a text in song for my birthday, I giggled and smiled from ear to ear.
Not just because we’d reconnected…. But because he’d become my newest electronic friend, as well as he has always been one of the very few people I have always enjoy talking on the telephone with.
Who’d a friggin' thunk it? Not this cat!
So cool that you all reconnected like you did. I've stayed in close contact with my sibs even though we live across the U.S. from each other. They all live in the same town in TN while years ago I moved to Los Angeles. I wish I could hang out with them more, but we at least have the telephone.
ReplyDeleteYour brother looks like he might be from about my era. In fact he looks similar to how I looked back in the seventies and eighties. Your post brings back memories for me as well. How often I perused that Sears catalog!
Thanks for sharing this.
Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out