Friday, September 23, 2011

He ain’t heavy, he’s my brother…

There is a thirteen year age difference between me and my brother. Because I started very early with having babies and being a grown up before I was actually a grown up, we didn’t grow up together. After my divorce 9 years later, the kids and I moved back home for a few months. Yeah, my poor brother basically went from being a spoiled only kid to having three little siblings. Talk about rocking his boat.

We talked about that time during our recent road trip together. He said while it was hard at the time, he wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. He and the Marine are only 5 years apart, and are now very close, like brothers. That time spent at home was good for all of us, even if it was a little crowded.

We weren’t there long, about 8 months, before I was able to get my own house, so even then I didn’t really get to know my brother. I was older and he was still a kid, playing and goofing around with the Marine and the Girl. Lil Skater was too young to be anything but a pest.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say is, he and I used this road trip to get reacquainted. It was one of the best road trips. Ever.

Here are 10 things you may or may not know about my brother:

  1. He used to be into vampires (mostly of the Anne Rice variety) but then realized zombies are “more realistic”.
  2. He still likes to make the semi-trucks honk their air horns. We were passing one and CGBro was all, make him honk, you know..yank your arm up and down! And I was like “Umm, NO, I am a grown-up” so he leaned over me to yank his arm up and down. The trucker must have seen the debate going on, so he blasted that horn loud and long, making me jump in my seat. Which of course caused all kinds of laughter from the bro. (P.S. Sometimes being a grown up is not that fun. I laughed, too!)
  3. His favorite Muppet is Gonzo and his favorite princess is Ariel, because she’s the only one with red hair.
  4. My bro has read the book The Zombie Survival Guide and is completely prepared for a zombie attack. (Which he claims is imminent)
  5. Makes his own beef jerky in several wonderfully delicious flavors (and shares!)
  6. He knows all the words to almost every song from the ‘80s. And has no shame in singing them loudly. Do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry?
  7. If he could have only two foods for the rest of his life, he would choose cheeseburgers (with American cheese) and nothing else, “because what more do you need when you get to have cheeseburgers till you die?”
  8. He does not like ice cream, so does not have a favorite flavor.
  9. In a fight, my brother believes vampires would win, hands down, over zombies. This because zombies are slow moving and stupid. They also eat “live” meat and vampires are already dead, so the zombies wouldn’t even be interested in eating them, making it easier for the vampires to kill the zombies. (Yes, more than a couple of hours was spent on this interesting creepy subject)
  10. My brother, like the Marine, has a wealth of useless trivia in his head, and randomly spouts it during lulls in conversation. (Where do they get it all??)

This was a good trip for so many reasons. We saw family that needed some hugs, shared stories of our mom and spent quality time getting to know one another. You know what? If he weren’t my brother already, I think I would have picked him for a friend.


Oh, and I am now totally prepared for a zombie attack.

Wordless Wednesday…with some words…
