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I'm a Minnesota Girl, living in the south. I tell my friends I try not to talk and think like a Yankee, but sometimes I slip up!

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Little Brother


This is my "little" brother Gare. He came around when I was 15 months old and I daresay we spent most of our childhood trying to outshine the other. Probably some of our most tenuous moments:

  • I pushed his baby buggy down a flight of stairs. Somehow he stayed in and was unhurt.
  • While my dad built our house, we lived in a 3 bedroom apt. My mom was a practical soul. One bedroom was for her and Daddy. One room was for Gary and me. One room was for the toys. She chose for the toy room she could lock, for when we misbehaved and didn't deserve to play with all that toy largesse. She could also hide the mess in there. Gary reformed in his tidiness habits. Alas, I'm still only halfway to tidy. I used to make Gary laugh at night, me in the bed, he in the crib. When my dad would come in after numerous warnings, I would say Gary was the one laughing and keeping me awake. I would cry. My dad wasn't fooled. Once we got a spanking with his bedroom slipper. Once was all it took.
  • At 8, Gary was bigger than me. He got in a shocking amount of deep doo doo when my mom and dad circled the yard in the pickup and saw he and his friends had tied me to a tree and were smacking me with rubber tipped darts from their dart guns.
  • At 16, Gary tried to hold back the smirks when his "can't do anything wrong" big sis got drunk on cherry vodka and coca cola and wouldn't tell the local gendarmes her name at the local pokey. I just gave the names of every other girl I knew. Eventually, they found the right household in the next little town and my mortified father came and got me. From dusk to dawn the next day, stopping to upchuck periodically, I mowed the yard, washed the windows, washed every vehicle and waxed it (Gary personally supervised my efforts on his car) and learned a hard lesson. Drink, maybe. Get drunk, you'll regret it.
  • At 19, Gary discovered that a sister who had her own apartment and made a huge sum of money (it must have been all of $12,000 in a single year) was a good relative to cultivate. My apartment became the center of the concert universe in Mpls and we caught a buncha good music together. I was well-heeled enough to send him to Mexico for his college graduation.
  • Distance makes the heart grow fonder, or so I tried to prove when I moved 1200 miles away. I was wrong. My heart is fond, but the time we've spent apart as adults is way too much when you consider how much we mean to each other.
  • This last decade +... I saw him through divorce, he saw me through mine. We talked it out when our "adult" kids got scary. He was last in FLA in November 2006. That's him at Frenchy's above. We had a great football and beach day.
  • I don't get to Minnesota much. It's far, it's cold and I'm usually broke.
  • Gare arrives again LATER TODAY!! He's bringing his SO, Denise. I hope she's worthy.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

6 comments:

Kelly said...

How exciting!!!

I hope y'all have a great time and I'll expect some fun stories from his visit posted here.

Pam said...

I'm so excited for you! I know how much this means; I know how close the two of you are!!

The good times are gonna roll, big time this next week!

I just know you're gonna adore his new SO. I know you won't be able to pack nearly enough in the next week!

Like my sis that I adore with all my heart (I know all about that sibling stuff) I expect lots of stories about the amazing reunion!!

Welcome GARE!!!!! You've got one fantastic big sis!!!

Bob said...

You will have a good time, no doubt. Y'all obviously have a great history. Have fun.

Algernon said...

Enjoyed this so much and hope y'all have a great visit together.

MarionL said...

So glad you got to visit your brother. Mine calls me weekly. He turns 40 in May and seems to want to be closer to his sisters now.

Thank God for family! We have a tornado warning out so I better unplug! Hugs!!!

Donna said...

I bet you two had a fantastic time!! Good for you!!