One of the disadvantages of living far away from family is that you don't get to see them very often. One of the advantages of that is that when an opportunity to see them presents itself, you take it. Such was the case when we were driving back from our cruise off the coast of Florida last October. We stopped for a night to see my brother, Shaun (or S.P. as he was affectionately called growing up), and his family that live in Atlanta, Georgia.
Shaun is 7 years older than me, which now that we're both adults is really not such a big deal, but, growing up it was huge. When he wasn't completely ignoring me, he was tormenting me. I still remember being pinned down as he hovered over me threatening to drop a loogy onto my face, only to suck it back into his mouth right before it hit. Or, there were the times that he would sit on me and fart. Or, the promises of riches (I believe the going rate back then was a dime for every time minutes....can you say cheap labor?) if I would give him a back massage. I'm not sure I ever did see a dime. I can't even count the number of times I was asked to fetch things for him while we were watching T.V. and being the much younger sister, I was either too young, or too brainwashed to argue.
Of course I wouldn't be being completely fair if I painted Shaun as the only villain. Being younger had it's pluses that I took full advantage of. For example, when my mom and Dad would go out on date nights, they would often leave a treat for each of us to enjoy while they were gone. On one night the treat for each child was a REGULAR-size snickers bar. No fun-size, or mini-size (did they even have those sizes back then? I can't remember, but that's beside the point). I had hit the mother load. I gobbled mine up as soon as they were out the door and as soon as I could get my grubby little hands on them. The good part about that was that it was oh so good. The bad part was that it was oh so gone. I wanted more, I had to have more. As I was contemplating my want/need to have more, I happened to notice that not all of the kids had taken their snickers bar. There, in my parents now vacant bedroom (my siblings had since gone their separate ways. Apparently the desire to go off and play was more pressing for some than the desire to appease a sweet tooth) was an extra bar lying on the end of the bed. It was as if it was staring straight at me, begging me to eat it. I didn't have the heart or the willpower to disappoint, so I snatched it up, found a quiet corner and gobbled that one up too.
Almost as soon as I had finished licking the wrapper I heard a cry from the bedroom from my brother, Casey. I didn't have to hear what he was saying to instantly know what the cry was about. I did the only thing I knew how to do...I denied everything. Not only did I deny taking it, but I blamed it on Shaun. It became such an ordeal that my parents ended up getting involved when they got home and we had to have a "family meeting". Long story short-Nobody believed Shaun when he continued to deny that he had taken it. Everybody believed me. I came off victor...until guilt started to seep in and consume and ultimately lead me to confess.
Fast forward too many years to count and we're together again, now with our own children enjoying each other and I'm happy to say we both survived each other and we're probably even better for it...hey, builds character, right?
I don't know if it's the age difference from growing up, and that as a result we don't have a lot in common, or that we've never really lived by each other as adults, or that I still feel like he doesn't take me seriously as an adult, but I wouldn't exactly say that we are close. Sometimes he does things or says things that I don't exactly understand or that absolutely drive me nuts, but I'd like to think that I've matured enough through the years, that in spite all of those things, I can appreciate a lot of the good in Shaun.
He's an amazing story-teller. Nobody tells a story better than Shaun. He is so engaging and funny and full of interesting detail that you could listen to him share his experiences for hours and not get bored.
He's dedicated to staying in shape and taking care of himself. He went through a chubby phase growing up that I think affected him a lot. Several years ago he took off that weight and with diet and LOTS of exercise and diligence, has been able to keep it off. As a perpetual yo-yo dieter myself, this is something I really appreciate and admire.
He picked a great wife. I love my sister-in-law, Jen. She and Shaun have raised and amazing family. Every time I am around them I think how kind and funny and fun-to-be-around they are.
He loves his family. I know that Shaun has had to make some sacrifices in his career so that he can be as engaged in his kids' life as he is. He's the Dad who gets off work early so that he can coach the little league team. I know that his kids will love and appreciate his involvement in their lives in this capacity.
A fun memory that I have is during this latest visit. We decided to go out for dinner. I can't remember the pizza joint, but that particular night they were doing a trivia night. Each table got to participate if they wanted. We had so much fun with each of the questions and between the four of us we dominated. I think we got either 2nd or 3rd place which was a $25 gift card. We'll cash in on that the next time we're in their neck of the woods! Or maybe call it even with the Snickers bar....
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| Shaun and Jen |
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| From Left to Right: Annika, Maddie, Sam, Ava, Phillip, Gabe, Dave, Ryan, Kim, Sophie |
