It's my baby brother's birthday today. He's 12 now. Which, for those of you who remember him as this chunky little troublemaking toddler, is probably as disconcerting to think about as it is for me. I have fond memories of him roaming around us during family prayer, bumping into us, knocking us in the back with plastic hammers, and trailing around little silky girls clothes. Perhaps I should not share some of these things with the cyberworld. He might not appreciate it. But it'll be a story told at his wedding and to his children someday, so he might as well get used to it. He used to carry around this pink, silky, girls dress that we used on one of our dolls. I think he liked the feel of it. Anyway, we noticed that he was pretty much glued to this little dress, so my mom thought it would be funny to put it on him and see what he did.
It was a struggle to get it out of his hands long enough to get him into it, but we succeeded. And I have to say, I'm quite proud of my little brother. As soon as it was on him, he looked down at it with an expression of deep disgust (well, as deeply disgusted as a toddler can ever be) and started picking at it and squirming desperately to get out of it. Because it was a dress. He might have liked touching it, but that didn't mean he wanted to wear it. My mom beamed at her little man. We've never doubted his boy-ness since.
Brian, on the other hand... ;-) (laugh if you want, but I have a very authentic picture of Brian, two years old, wearing a pair of plastic high heels... I'm saving it for blackmail purposes. I'm sure his wife and I will have some fun together in years to come)
Anyway, so Hyrum's getting the priesthood this week. It's a little sobering to realize how old my baby brother is getting. He's turning into a young man, and I'm a little sad that I have to miss it because I'm already gone. I like being a part of my siblings' growth and progression to maturity, but the simple fact is that we grow best when we have room to grow. Brian changed a lot when he wasn't in the shadow of his older sister, and Jessa is really starting to reach her stride now that both of her older siblings are gone. Hyrum's doing the same. I can't wait to see what happens as we all grow up.
3 comments:
*sigh*
It's awesome, and it's sobering.
Awesome stories! Almost makes me wish I had more younger siblings to have memories like that, but alas, I am the younger sibling, so I've had a few stories of my own told. :)
(deep breath)......Sigh........ Almost time to go meet the little man, I still don't let him ride his bike all alone with a saxophone strapped to the handlebars which makes him very wobbly. Do you think I'm holding on a little too tight?? Of course, one day he got too close to one of those big mega neighborhood mailboxes and the sax hit it and spun him and the bike and the sax to the ground! Overprotective...you're darn right I am!
Post a Comment