The day I was born, the story goes, my brother, still a toddler, strutted up and down our street in Flint, Michigan, chanting, “I’ve got a sister! I’ve got a sister!”
Sibling Loyalty
He’s still got me. And I’ve still got him. And yesterday having that brother meant getting up from my desk in the middle of a writing day, driving to a hospital, and keeping my brother company as he recovered from the dratted knee surgery so many of our agemates have signed up for lately. I had a fun time. I hope he did.
Coincidentally, I’ve been sorting through a box of old black and white photos this week. They were taken right around the time my brother announced my arrival to the world.
My brother was a cute baby, I discovered as I perused those photos. Me, not so cute. I scowled a lot.
More about the art of the family photo at “The Truth Behind That Happy Family Photo We Just Sent You.” More baby pictures at “The Center of the Universe Lives at Our House.”
Your brother and I went out west on the Chet Sampson trip when we were in high school and roomed together for a while in Ann Arbor. I always enjoyed his company and his very inquisitive mind.
He’s still got that inquisitive mind. No longer cute, but still good looking.
that scowl is adorable and perhaps preparation for real life.
I don’t think of myself as a person whose default is a scowl. Maybe people told me to please smile more and I learned to overcompensate. I was actually first runner up for Best Smile in my high school graduating class.
As we get older, I think we hark back more to remember those earliest times with our big or little brother or sister.
Yes. I am appreciating my brothers more than ever, partly because we share so many memories.
I’ve just taken a closer look at the winter coat and hat my brother is wearing. It’s the kind of tailoring and detail that was common in the 1940s, but that you don’t see much any more. Designers and clothing manufacturers long ago opted for simpler — cheaper? — designs.
So glad you had such a brother. I had only one sister who was very close to our dad, a real dad’s girl.
I’ve often wondered what I would be like today if I’d had a sister. Pretty different, I think. And what if she’d been Dad’s Girl instead of me?
that was a cute one. eb
😉