Day 11: My Sibling

I have one sibling: a brother named Paul, he was born in 1987 when I was 4 (almost 5) years old, and I can still remember the day he was born in great detail. Actually I remember before he was born and my parents asked me if I wanted a baby brother or sister and I thought pretty much up until the day he was born that I had the final say in whether it was a boy or a girl; I changed my mind on at least a weekly basis. I remember my mom being pregnant and going to the doctor with her a lot. I remember the night before my brother was born my mom was sitting on the bed in a pink and white striped house coat, talking to my dad about whether we should go to my grandparents house because she thought the baby would be born soon and their house was near the hospital. Late that night we went to my grandparents home (I thought all of this was very exciting) and my grandpa offered us peanut brittle while I begged my mom to read me a Bambi book, my dad called work to let them know he might now be coming in the next day, and my grandmother told me to stop bothering my mother.

The next morning, my brother's birthday, I remember my grandmother waking me up and telling me that my parents had gone to the hospital to have the baby. I was VERY disappointed that they have gone without me and even more disgruntled when my grandparents forced me to eat their signature big breakfast of eggs, bacon, and toast. I was eager to get in on the exciting action of my brother being born; well, let's be honest, I wanted the Cabbage Patch doll that my parents had promised I'd get when he was born.

Eventually I remember being in the hospital waiting room with lots of extended family members, at which point my focus was on drinking chocolate milk from the cafeteria and painting my nails with dark pink Tinkerbell (remember Tinkerbell?!?) nail polish with my older cousin Amy. I was having too much fun at that point to be bothered with my mom or brother.The next thing I remember is my dad telling me to help take my brother to the nursery; he was naked and red and in an incubator (that I thought looked like our family's toaster oven) and the whole experience was weird. At least then I was finally able to go get my doll.

After that eventful day, Paul and I became fast friends. When he was really young I kind of took a mothering role towards him and as he got older he became one of my best friends. We've had so much fun together watching The Simpsons, laughing at stupid movie, make fun of other family members, on family vacations, messing with our dogs, and eventually sharing our faith in Christ with each other.

When Paul was a teenager he got really into The Beatles and started playing the guitar A LOT. He went to HBU, just like me. This past May he got married to his high school sweatheart Amanda and now they live in College Station with their little shi tzu puppy, Johann.

My brother is a really good man, in every sense of the word. He loves the Lord, loves others, puts others before himself, is helpful, kind, considerate, fun, funny, smart, talented, giving, thoughtful, unique, gentle, strong, courageous, independent, wise for his years, and compassionate. I'm so glad he's my brother and that no one else can say that! :)