Siblings Day 2015

My dad sent me an e-mail this morning with this picture attached:

 

He said I could use it for the Siblings Day thing on Facebook.

Crap!  It's Siblings Day? 

Wait...

What exactly is that?

When did this even become a thing?

Naturally, I Googled it.. It’s official.  April 10^th is Siblings Day
Which is why I’m crankin’ out this post during the toddler’s naptime- since I didn’t buy them a card, a BBQ Set, a T-shirt, or anything really.  Don't plan to, either. 

 Wikipedia has some pretty cool info on the history of this day and where it’s celebrated.  Click here to learn more.

------            ------     -----            -----        -----           -----            -----       -----

So here’s my sort of quick story.  I grew up with TWO older brothers that were born a year and 10 days apart from each other.  They’re  4 and 5 years older than me. 

Pretty lucky, right? Only girl, the baby, two big protective brothers.. Well I may not have thought I was so lucky when I was a kid, but I do now.  

You see, I tried to be grateful.  It’s just that I ALWAYS wanted a sister, and never got one.  I only had one really close friend that was like a sister while I was growing up, and we’ve grown apart now.  If we’d been sisters, she would’ve just been stuck with me and maybe we'd still be close.

I joke that by having two brothers, I really got TWO sisters, when they found wives.  Actually they’ve each been married twice, so it’s really like I got 4 sisters.  ;)

 

They’d probably punch me in the face for that comment.. Their wives might too…   Maybe I should delete that?  Nah, I’ll keep it. I’ll call it my pay back for all those times they:

• Made me do the dishes, even though it was their turn.
• Gave me those dreaded noogies when we were riding in the back seat of mom's Lincoln Continental.  Why on Earth was my "spot" in the middle of those two rowdy boys?! 
• Told me to keep a secret (which they knew I couldn’t), just so I’d tell mom or dad and they’d have an excuse to beat me up.

AND mostly for that time I had to chip-in my Christmas money from the grandparents to buy the Super Nintendo, which I wasn’t allowed to touch... because that gaming system belonged to {insert your best whiny little girl tone here -->} “The Boys”.

That's an orginal Nintendo remote in my hand folks, NOT a SUPER Nintendo remote.

 

Oh and for all the cool joint birthday parties they got to have with their friends, some even playing on that Super Nintendo.  I had to quietly stay back in the corner of the room with my dolls while I watched them laugh, play, and eat goodies for like two hours, once a year!

 

My oldest brother (the one on the far left) joined the Army just after high school.  I was still in middle school and didn’t totally comprehend what was going on.  I was upset that he was leaving, because I was pretty sure if he was going into the army it was just because he didn’t like us and wanted to be killed or something. 

Good news, he’s still around, and the army has taken him to some really beautiful, and some really interesting places.  I’m happy to see his pictures and hear his stories.

 

My second oldest brother (the happy blonde-haired guy, celebrating his wedding day) now lives just 2 miles from my house.  I tell you what, that really has its perks: like having a built-in baby sitter, an extra set of hands for heavy lifting, someone else to cook the turkey at Thanksgiving, oh and of course the close friendship!  He has mentored me and taught me about life more than anyone.  Some by just observing him, and some by actually calling me out and correcting my dumb behavior. 

Being his personal taxi back in July of 2004, lead me to meeting my husband and daughter.  He’s the one who told me to “suck it up” and “quit being a baby” each of the half a dozen times Mr. Awesome and I broke up while we were dating.

 

I don’t have any great trials to share that my brothers and I pulled through together.  I don’t have any exciting stories about super fun and memorable moments.  But I have hundreds, possibly thousands, of mundane moments I could share with you about growing up with those two as my brothers. 

As the Paul Tripp quote goes:

“You don’t live life in big moments. You live life in the utterly mundane… The character of a life is set in 10,000 little moments, not big moments...”

I am thankful.          Truly blessed, really.         That my character has been shaped by these two (now) amazing men, that I get to call my brothers.