I missed a day of blogging due to complete chaos in my work life. It happens to all of us from time to time, where there may not be enough time in the day to get everything done that we either want or need to get done. I usually prepare my blog post the night before and then upload it the next day, but yesterday was one of those days where it was all about the day job. Regardless, I always find time to share with family and friends and yesterday, even through the chaos, I was able to find my bright spot when I made connections with my new brother, Michael.
I will steer off course a bit here. Dad and "mom" (Sandy is dad's wife and the connection with her last weekend was so amazing that calling her "mom" is very natural for me) has a flight delay on their way home from Boise. The storm in the Midwest kept them in Minneapolis overnight. I could tell that dad was overwhelmed by the experience and after talking with "mom" first, I knew that she was.
If having this experience wasn't enough, dad does not like to fly and then add on the fact that they could not get accommodations to rest properly from the airline, it made for even a longer night for them. When I talked with him further, I learned that an airline employee took their situation to heart and brought them to a room where there was a sofa and she laid a mattress down for "mom," so they could rest. I said to dad, "there's the bright spot" for you with that situation. I could tell he did not see it at the time, but when I told him there was a reason you were held over and I am glad that they at least found someone nice to help them. He agreed. I asked him to remember that his kids (new and known) are here for him and all he needs to do in the future is call me and I am sure between all of us kids that we can make sure you have sleepmg arrangements during the delay. I could sense the smile on my dad's face through the phone line. Another huge bright spot in my day.
As you have read, my brother, Jim, was married last weekend in Boise and I have a wonderful new sister-in-law, Trina. A monumental bright spot in my life. More importantly, my brother wrote me a small note thanking me for "finding our father." He said to me that "if it hadn't been for you, we would not have him in our lives." This was awesome to get from Jimmy to say, as I know initially that he was very confused by the situation. Now, we both have a huge bright spot in our lives for the rest of time.
Yesterday afternoon, after a number of text messages and social media contact, I reached out and spoke with my brother, Michael (in the photo above). He put it best when he said that it puts a whole new perspective on the reality of this new family beginning. Michael married his love, Jen in August of last year and they live in North Carolina. We talked about everything, or at least everything we could squeeze into our 40 minute call. What I learned about him, is that, while he is of course much younger, we are very similar or have had very similar lives. We both served our country. Michael was in the Marines and I was in the Navy. We love our country and are very proud of our honorable service. Michael loves the gym and of course I do too. We are two very free spirits from very different generations, but we think so much alike. We enjoy talking and we have the same quirk of interrupting when the other is speaking. I chuckled. We say what is on our mind and we both love our coffee! Now, I know he is my brother. It was a major bright spot in my day.
My younger brother, Michael, was offering me advice on how to communicate with my other siblings too. I really found that to be a bright spot and something I would totally do too. After the call, we continued texting one another until the late evening. I told Michael that I felt like a kid again in anticipation of meeting him and my other siblings and wondered how that was possible. I'll bet he smiled, because he wrote back and said, "he did not know, but he bet it will be another cool moment."
I slept with a big smile in my heart last night. This bright spot felt awesome!
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