Brotherhood Is Wasted On The Young
Hey, I’m going to be in Salt Lake next week. Can I crash on your couch for the night?
My brother lives in Washington. He’s got a wife, four great kids and a job running his CPA firm. I don’t get to see him as often as I would like. If he didn’t do my taxes, I wouldn’t guarantee that I get to talk to him at least once a year.
He’s four years younger than I am. It was close enough that we could hung out a lot growing up. But, we were far enough apart that we had separate groups of friends. We have different fathers, so he bounced back and forth between our house and his dad’s house. Still, we spent lots of time together growing up. Sometimes, it was annoying to have my little brother tagging along.
Rodney, make sure your brother gets home from the game.
Rodney, don’t forget to pick your brother up from the mall.
Rodney, you’re the one we are looking at to be responsible while you’re both home alone this weekend.
What’s odd, is that today I love getting to hang out with him. We live 1000 miles apart. He’s in town for just a day. I’ll rearrange my schedule to meet him for breakfast and then shuttle him to my house. The amount of time I’m going to get to visit is brief. I will spend almost as much time arranging to visit as the actual visit time. And yet, it’s worth it.
How different from when I was a kid. I spent far more time with my friends than I did with my brother growing up. And yet, other than a couple of friends that I only talk to because of Facebook, I’m not close with those kids anymore.
It sounds like some old-guy nostalgia to lament lost opportunities from my youth. And I’m not really fretting over lost youth. It is true that we often don’t recognize a valuable experience until it’s over. Sometimes the memory of a time is much better than the actual experience of that time. Rarely are we able to look around and say, “Someday, I’m going to want to remember this. I’m going to look back on this and be glad I was here.”
I think we are better at doing that as adults. At least I hope so, for today, anyway.
Live in the moment.
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday at 7:00 AM Mountain Time. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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