Big Sister, Little Brother

Just looking at this photo, I can tell that these two children are in for a very exciting future, and it reminds me of my childhood.

I was the big sister, and I used to put my little brother through all kinds of silly things. At least, I did until he got bigger than me and could beat me up!

At one point in my life, we lived in a neighborhood where there were no girls my age to play with, so I used to play with my little brother and his friends. I was 10 or 11 years old and my brother was 7 or 8 years old. On one occasion, I remember that I dressed them all in my dresses and, somewhere, I still have the photograph.

When our parents divorced, we became latch-key kids--walking home from school to an empty house--for a short period of time. Our dad was usually home within an hour, but it's amazing the amount of trouble you can get into in an hour! And I'm pretty sure that I was probably the instigator of our mischief.

One time, we explored all of the cabinets in the upper-reaches of the kitchen, like the cabinet above the refrigerator. We had always wondered what was up there, so I pulled a chair up to the cupboard, climbed up and opened the door. I remember finding some magazines that I had never seen before and my dad's service revolver. I was pretty sure we weren't supposed to see that stuff, so I put everything back and shut the door. I am also certain that my dad never found out what we found out that day. (Unless, of course, he reads this blog!)

When my brother and I had an argument, we would chase each other through the house and try to hit each other. I remember one incident where we had been playing pool and my brother got mad at me. He chased me around the house with a pool cue. I ran into a bedroom and slammed the door shut, and he promptly jabbed the base of the pool cue through the door. The thin plywood on the door splintered and left a 2" gash in the door. Needless to say, our mom wasn't too happy with us. For years, the door had an orange, vinyl flower adhered to the door to cover up the hole.

Fortunately, as we grew older and somewhat more mature, we actually started liking each other. We played tennis, went to the movies, spent the day at Disneyland and did a lot of other fun activities together. When my brother played in various sporting activities, I was his biggest fan.

In the photo above, I see a hint of the fun that these two children will enjoy as they grow up. And they will, indeed, grow up. It'll be a joy to watch the two of them together.