Love Is... Family

My parents use to own (and I hope they still do!) a series of small books called "Love Is..." which were just adorable. I use to read them over and over as a child and as a teenager as they were so simple and very sweet. So I want to write about one thing that means so very much to me and few days ago I feel like that's more a reality than ever before... Family.

Can't believe how much our boy has grown!

Both my parents have been before and divorced, then met one another at work and have been together since. The sad part of that really is my dad had two children with his first wife and I can't imagine how they must have felt when their dad left their mother for another woman as it's something I've never been through. Of course he continued to see his two children and even today at the ripe old ages that they are in now (a polite way to say they are old) they are close by and we get to see them fairly often.

Now because these two boys from my dad's previous married aren't actually my brothers (half-brothers is what they actually are - one whole brother if you want to make that joke) and are much older than me I've never really been close to them. You know what? I have to admit that makes me very sad. I don't really consider myself a lone child as I do have two brothers, sure they are no longer living with either of their parents and they don't share the same mother as me, but it's modern times why should that matter. Infact on my 21st birthday I didn't want anything apart from having both my brothers and other close family members together having a nice evening out. And we did, probably one of my much loved memories.

You see... my two brothers don't seem to be close anymore. I don't know why and I am not even sure they know either why that is. They are very different to one another as one is outgoing and comical and the other is more down-to-earth and serious, couldn't be any more opposite to one another. So that was why I made a big deal that on that night BOTH my brothers (as I said I consider them brothers so will keep calling them that) were there and having a good evening out as a family. But I never knew my brothers very well. I know what they are like, where they live and what they do for a living but ask me what their hobbies are or favourite food is... I couldn't tell you that one bit. I mean my oldest brother (both older than me but tend to say 'oldest' and 'youngest' as just makes sense to me) is 24 years older than me and I'm 25 years old. So yeah I never got to learn about their favourite things and stuff and always wished I knew them better, but few days ago I was at my older brother's wife's daughter's 18th birthday (errr... could I just say step-niece? Bit is a mouthful!) and we got to speak together for the first time in... I could honestly not tell you when.

How does his wife put up with him I'll never know!

He was his usual jolly self (with the added help of a few drinks) and told me he was proud of me. I was stunned for a moment and said than you and then he told me he wanted to keep in touch more and apologised for not being around a lot. A few other things were said and I admit I got a bit teary and gave him a huge hug and kiss. Even as I write this out I'm crying, not because I'm sad... I'm very happy. Well in a way I'm sad because so many years have passed but happy that he feels the same as me.

So next year I'll be doing my best to stay in touch with my brother and try and get our son to see his Uncle more often. He's just fantastic with kids and they got along so well in a short period of time. Can't miss these precious moments for anything and I'll try my best to do something about it.