What is it about big brothers? Mine is my only sibling and in some years he felt like my only friend. We were born just eleven months apart, and Larry was my hero growing up. When I was six I wanted to be just like him. I tagged along when he played army with his friends and he (usually) made sure I was included. He tolerated me when they played cops and robbers. If I insisted on Barbies he'd bring out G.I. Joe. We rarely fought, but if we did I always won because he refused to hit me back and I could run faster anyway. One memorable day I talked him into letting me tie him up. I threw a blanket over his head and tied his feet together, then pushed him over. When his head hit the floor I ran like I was on fire, and yet, he didn't tell on me. Another legendary story says that when I was four I socked a neighborhood boy in the nose for being mean to my brother. We built forts together using scrap lumber from the new houses going up in our neighborhood. We collected crawdads from a nearby stream. And we played a lot of Battleship.
Over the weekend I journeyed to Kansas to watch his oldest child, his daughter Laurina, get married. It was great fun spending time with extended family, watching him get all teary-eyed as he gave her away. "I had something to say when I handed her to Josh," he later told me, "but I couldn't get it out." My brother, the brave retired colonel, brought to his knees by the long walk down the aisle with his "princess."
But perhaps the best moment for me was dancing with Larry to The Commodores' "Brick House." Did I mention that I don't dance?. If they play a slow song I might shuffle a two-step, but that's about it, despite the square dancing lessons that my mother made us take as kids. The kind of dancing we did in the 70s involves a lot of unscripted flailing about, and at this stage of the game might also first require a couple shots of tequila. And yet, there we were, alone on a stage with my family looking on and cheering. Fortunately, the video they took is a little too dark to see. But it was a moment I'll never forget. Two things I learned from this trip to Kansas:
One: my brother can dance to anything (perhaps his marriage to a former dance instructor has something to do with it?).
and
Two: he can sing! One more story. When we were kids I famously told him to stop singing in church because he was embarrassing the family. I know. Not very nice. But this last Sunday I sat right beside him in St. Luke's, and it turns out he has a very nice voice. He can even sing "Brick House" while dancing.
