Brotherly Love

Here is the newest Love Letter.

Are your siblings also your friends? Have you always gotten along or were there times that you fought? Tell stories about each of them.

Well ok. So there are four of us in case any you didn't realize that, and we are all boys. According to Mom that is all she ever wanted was to have boys. I guess she got her wish. Growing up there were of course times that I fought with all my siblings. We never really got into any kind of knock down-drag out fights, but we fought for sure. Most times it was more of a case of just getting on each others nerves.

At this point though, with all of us being grown I would say that I am friends with them all. There are still times that we get on each others nerves I'm sure, but I would say that I am friends with all three of them. And throughout the years, I have been closer to each one in turn, depending on the circumstances. In high school, Bryan and I were closer mainly due to being the into the same things. When I lived in Abernathy and Brock was going to Tech, we were closer and spent a lot of time together. And when we lived in Sweetwater, it was Caleb that I was closest too and spent the most time with. That is just the way that it goes honestly. The more time you spend with a person, the closer you get to them, and that is what happened in our case.

Let me tell you a story about each brother now. This should be interesting.

Bryan- He is the next oldest after me, so by default we have been together the longest. I remember a time when I was about 9 years old and he was 6. Being boys we liked to at times pretend to fight and punch each other. We didn't really hit one another. Then one day as he and I were walking along, I asked him this question: "Hey, do you want to real fight?" and he replied, "OK." So after we had walked a few more steps, I tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked back at me, I punched him in the face. Needless to say, he was rather unhappy with this development and went to tell Mom what had transpired. Upon being called into the house, I explained to Mom what the situation was and that I had first asked and he had accepted the invitation to "real fight." What Bryan and I both remember from this experience is that after giving my explanation, I did not get into trouble for punching my younger brother in the face. (That was the fighting story)

Brock- He is number 3 in birth order and is 5 years younger than I am. So when he was about 4 Brock started playing t-ball in Greenwood. In that first year he was on the gold team, which was always about a 3rd place team (not a lot of parity in little league back in the day. The gold team switched to the black team eventually, but it was still the same). So in one of his games, Brock gets a hit and reaches base. As he is standing there, the first base coach gives him some instructions. They went something like this: "OK Brock, see our other coach over there at third base? When we hit the ball, I want you to run to him, OK?" Now Brock was one that was good at following directions, and sure enough, as soon as the ball was hit he took off...straight across the field skipping second base all together. Brock now refuses to play baseball and softball due to a fear that they are actually trying to hit him with the ball, no matter where he is on the field.

Caleb- Finally we reach the youngest of us. Caleb has many stories from which to choose from. There are a couple that come to mind right off. Caleb also began playing t-ball when he was about 4 years old. I remember being at one of his games once when he reached base. Eventually he ended up on third (going the traditional route to second base). Once the ball was hit with him on third the coach sent him home. As he crossed the plate and turned back to the dugout, he stopped briefly in front of the fans on his teams side...to take a bow.

Another story that stands out to me is from his early elementary days. When I was in the middle of high school, 10th or 11th grade, Caleb's age group was doing a fundraiser and selling candy bars. This happened to be during basketball season, and one night while at a home game Caleb decided to peddle his wares in the stands. This however was not enough. At one point during a timeout of the varsity boys game, Caleb recognized the assistant coach and decided to see if he would be interested in buying some candy from him. So as the team stood near the bench during a timeout Caleb laid down and reached under the bottom rail and tapped Coach Poss on the head and asked if he would be interested in purchasing some of his chocolate. Needless to say, Coach declined at that particular moment.

So there you have it. We are friends, and really have been from the beginning. We have had our moments when we fought and didn't get along, but in the end we are family and we love each other, and that is what is really important. Peace and Love y'all.