My older brother

My oldest brother recently visited for a couple of days and to be honest, it was the first time as an adult that I have spent that much time with him. I had the opportunity to really talk to him. My brother was 10 when I was born and he got married when he was 21. My sister-in-law, his wife, recently passed away unexpectedly so for the past almost year and a half he has had to adjust to life without her.

My memories of my brother have always been the big, protective older brother. My mom would tell the story of how he would carefully put me in the little red wagon and pull me around the yard when I was little. He was careful and protective. He was and still is a gentle, kind guy. I honestly think he would do just about anything for his family and those he cares about. He set a good example and set the bar kind of high for me in regard to how men should treat women.

So the two days we spent together was kind of a get to know opportunity. He has a wonderful memory and could tell me the names, relationships and other tidbits about family members and events. Being the youngest I missed out on things that the four older siblings got to experience or do. He is extremely handy and smart when it comes to figuring things out and fixing things. There isn't much he won't try to fix or do himself-he learned that from my dad. He helped repair a few things. I return did some cooking and we went out to eat a couple of times. But my brother is a really good cook too!

I don't know if he was bored or enjoyed his time here but it was really, really nice. One of the best memories from the two days, when he and I sat outside after dark, watching the stars come out talking about family and life and our kids and the people we missed. It did my heart good and left me with such a great memory.

I'm so blessed to have gotten the opportunity and time to spend with him to make new memories and share old memories too.

Side note, my brother mentioned during his visit that he'd heard loved ones who have passed away are close when you find feathers. He said he had found several feathers over the past year and a half. As he was leaving today and I was standing on the lawn and I looked down as he was backing out of the driveway, and on the ground was a feather. I picked it up and held it up for him to see, he rolled down his window, gave me a thumbs up and smiled...be both knew what it meant.