Webster dictionary: best friend (noun) a person's closest and dearest friend.
My best friend has blonde hair and ice blue eyes. My best friend loves pizza, math problems, and animal facts. My best friend enjoys reading, drawing cartoon characters, and visiting the zoo. My best friend is just over four feet tall and barely weighs fifty pounds. My best friend also wears the title, "little brother." My best friend is my life saver.
I was thirteen when I found out I was going to be a big sister... again. My younger sister is a mere eighteen months younger than I, so we were stuck with each other most of our lives. My unborn brother, however, would be an entirely different situation. By the time he was born, I was fourteen years old and unsure what our family dynamic would look like going forward.
Little did I know a miracle was about to enter my life.
The day my brother was born, I was so excited to snuggle the little baby I would now call my brother. He had a head full of hair and was as yellow as a dandelion. I remember holding him for the first time and my heart sank.. not from fear or uncertainty.. but from love. I had no idea I could love anything as much as I loved that tiny, yellow baby.
My little brother was a spitfire as a toddler. He repeated e v e r y t h i n g he heard, once he began talking. And let me tell ya- once he began talking, the poor thing never stopped. (I wonder where he gets that from??) That child would say the darndest things. Well, actually, he still does. Just the other day he explained to me why a whale is a more superior ocean animal than a shark and threw space facts at me. I could feel my eyeballs glaze over because the conversation was SO over my head. The child is a genius, lemme tell ya.
My baby brother, I will always refer to him as my baby brother, is a light. He somehow knows exactly what you need, exactly when you need it. I picked him up a few weeks ago, and the first thing he did when he saw me was kiss me on the cheek... how in the world did he know my heart hurt without me disclosing the information? I was discussing my late grandfather in conversation one day and he stated, "Morgan, he is my papaw too!" The remark made me chuckle when I was on the verge of tears. His heart understands far more than his age suggests, and he always seems to make life easier.
My brother was five years old when we lost both my grandmother and our grandfather. How are you supposed to explain to a five year old the concept of death? This question weighed on me heavily as I tried to comprehend the question myself.. how do I, myself, comprehend death at 19 years old? We lost them both within a five month period. I still remember my dad calling me, both times, to inform me of their passing. I still vividly recall, 5 years later, the way he apologized for their passing. My dad lost both of his parents, but he was apologizing to me.. how could I explain this tragedy to my brother when my own heart couldn't accept it?
We were discussing my grandma about a year after she passed. My brother was going on about how she always had his favorite snacks and tickled his back before his naps. Then he asked me, "Morgan, where is my Mamaw?" I explained that she was in Heaven now and feeling so much better. The next question he asked left me absolutely speechless, in the most heartbreaking way.
"Why can't we just go visit her in Heaven? You're driving me right now, let's just go see her!" When I tell you my heart broke, I mean I physically felt it crack.
He probably won't ever know it, or understand it, but my little brother saved me. His smile, his caring heart, his optimistic spirit.. that little boy saved me in more ways than he will ever realize.
My best friend, my baby brother, pushes me every single day to be better than I was the day before. He gives me the strength to keep going when I feel completely defeated. He reminds me that he is my best friend right when I feel like throwing in the towel. He wraps me in a tiny bear hug when I feel that I have nothing left to give.
My blonde haired, blue eyed best friend is an angel in my life. An angel that I've been blessed to also call my little brother. The love he shows me, the friendship he gifts me, and the bond we share is something I will never find the right words in order to thank the universe enough for allowing me to experience.
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