December 22, 2003 Birthdays

Yesterday was my brother and sister's birthday. I don't remember the birth of my sister as I was a mere 22 months old, but clearly we had many rockin' times together in our youth. The birth of my brother is probably the most vivid memory of my entire childhood. I was two months shy of nine years old, and we didn't know what my mom was having, and my older brother was 11, and he was so happy to finally have a brother that his happiness still hasn't worn off. My brother's birth brought about the end of my life as a middle child. His life has brought me such profound joy that I can scarcely imagine what our family would have been like for the last twenty years without him. That I am old enough to recall so clearly something that happened twenty years ago kind of astonishes me. My sister had gum surgery on Friday and looks a little bit like Cindy Lou Who. My dad posed us for a kids picture after our dinner last night of shrimp and stir-fried vegetables and my mom's famous ice cream dessert (during which my older brother with his trademark wily persuasion tried to justify why he and his date should be the ones who get the 50-yard seats for the big game), and in honor of her puffy cheeks, we all puffed out our cheeks. It's definitely one for the record books. And that's just kind of how my siblings and I are. Sometimes we really hate each other, but we always get over it and if need be make fools of ourselves for each other. The frenetic nature of this week always manages to swallow their birthday somewhat, but I hope they know how much they mean to me and how I'll puff out my cheeks for them any time. ::: About this time in ... 2002: S. and I ran away to a bedroom to embrace at some point and have a reality check, like, was this all real? Was it really happening? Was everyone having as much fun as they seemed to be having, and wasn't this all just too joyous to even imagine? 2001: He is beautiful and I love him and I cannot fucking believe he is eighteen years old and doing shots onstage and possibly even having sexual relations. 2000: There are so many songs I've shared with my sister -- perhaps more with her than anyone else. 1999: Maybe it's because I watched South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut last night, laughed just as hard as I did the first time, and don't even care if it makes me a bad person to think it's perhaps the funniest movie I've ever seen. get notified. journal archives © Copyright 2003 elb