Time to Celebrate!

Yesterday was my greatly loved brother’s birthday.  He’s 22 and that just blows my mind.  Why, I’m not sure,  but it does.  I remember when he was born, the only one born after Daddy went into the Army.  I was 4 and thrilled.  My grandmother came and picked me up (I don’t remember if my sister went with us or not), took me to McD’s to pick up breakfast only to be told we couldn’t take it in the hospital.  It was raining so we quickly ate on a park bench right outside the door, barely under the eaves.  I didn’t care; I wasn’t much interested in food anyway.  I wanted to go in!  I think my love of children started with him.  There was nothing I loved more than helping Momma dress him, feed him, play with him and keep him happy.  And he was a happy little boy!   

Bruce was very big for his age, learned to walk quite young, and could ride my 2 wheel bike at 3 years old.  Living in military housing, our laundry room was in the basement and it soon became my job to keep Bruce occupied while Momma was handling the chore.  One afternoon Momma came back (she says she was only gone about 4 minutes) to find Bruce swinging from the light fixture in the dining room as he ran the length of the table and me crying because I couldn’t get him down!   I can still hear him giggling in time with the patter of his feet on the table.    From that day on, Momma would put him in her closet to play with her shoes while I stayed in the bedroom and she ran to do laundry.  He’d spend hours traipsing up and down the hallway in one pair of shoes after another.  (To this day he loves socks and shoes and says if he were a millionaire he’d put on a new pair of socks everyday!)  As time went by, Momma learned to put his energy to good use, but when those ideas ran low, it wasn’t unusual to find him madly circling the house, trying his best to beat yesterday’s record for 5 laps before he started the next subject in school!  LOL!  I can only imagine the neighborhood conversation!

Bruce is still full of life.  His quick wit is such a refreshing balance to my seriousness.  You can always count on him to make you laugh – especially with his movie quotes , but I’ve never known him to back down from truth.  He has many friends because he’s learned the art of truly being a friend and is willing to make the investment.  He’s a gentleman and Lynn and I enjoy spending time with him – there’s never any doubt we’ll be well taken care of – and so will anyone trying to mess with us!  I’m so grateful God saw fit to add him to our family.  I’ll forever rejoice for July 19 as it’s the day one of my dearest friends was born!