My Brother: The Fixer

My Brother: The Fixer

I was originally going to name this post, “Ha Ha! Your Old!”  But it is my brothers birthday, and I thought I would be nice.  It is one of those significant birthdays, that well meaning coworkers, terrible friends and beloved family members send funeral wreaths.  It is a midlife crisis sort birthday.  I am the best sister ever. Aside from sending him random terrible gifts for an entire month just to annoy him, singing off key into his message machine Happy Birthday and generally being annoying, I want to share a little bit of nostalgia that every time I think about it I laugh. 

Mike and I when we were young and cute.

The Fixer:

All stories have to start somewhere.  This one starts with tears.  When I was in high school, I had a boyfriend and he was my world. We had plans to be one of those couples that beat the odds and stayed married for a million years.  We were the sort of couples that were almost nauseating to be around. I graduated a year before him, and was sure that our love was going to be strong to over come anything.  

I know your are thinking that this doesn’t sound like a story about my brother.  Hang in there. 

It should come as no surprise to some that despite all my teenage hopes and dreams of living happily ever after with my high school sweetheart in wedded bliss, it was not meant to be.  Unsurprising the proximity of our priorities and life experiences tore us apart.  

I, being an emotional teenager was distraught when the final blow came. Being dumped sucked.  Sobbing my eyes out and was pretty sure that I would never love again and die of a broken heart.  In the middle of this mess of teenage hormones and  general blubbering about how fair life is, with my the at that time best friend trying to sooth my wounded female pride, comes my brother. 

Mike looked at me, and my wretched state and offered his own brand of assistance to my plight. 

“I’ll slash his tires.”

My brother was 100% serious in his offer, and because of that I laughed.  And while it didn’t fix anything, it fixed everything. 

Happy BIrthday Mike!  You are the best!