Can you give any memories of your brothers and sisters? What are their names?
After years of keeping journals and family history, I've collected a lot of memories, good and bad.
I'm only interested in preserving the good memories anymore. The bad ones refuse to go away anyhow, and no point in encouraging them to stick around longer than they have to.
Overall, I grew up in a good family. My five brothers and one sister were very close with each other, although I did notice that we sort of fragmented at some point, and the four older siblings grew closer to each other in a group, while the four younger siblings did the same, with the fourth kid sort of bridging both worlds. Kind of an interesting dynamic.
Since I haven't asked their permission to share these stories, I'm making up names to protect the incredibly guilty here today. If they're reading this, feel free to refute my memory, sucky as it is, if you remember different.
Bubbagumpkin (my oldest brother)
First brother, little sister who stole his mommy from him...our rivalry approached legendary levels. Still, he could be quite useful in a tight spot.
Once, when I was 12 and really stupid, our church planned an all-day hike for the teenagers in Zion Narrows, a really tight canyon path.
Thirteen miles, they said. It'll be a snap - take us a day to hike, and we head back home. I was stoked - this was my first Church activity with the big kids, and going to be something I would never forget.
Well, it was indeed something I would never forget. Something that I'm glad I lived to never forget.
I ate my lunch about one hour into the activity, sure I'd gotten to the halfway point. We went on to hike for another TWELVE HOURS, through really rough terrain, and deep water that kept knocking me off my feet. The boys ran on ahead, while the girls struggled along behind, often without adult supervision.
About six hours in, I found myself totally alone, fighting for my life in this canyon somewhere in Utah, and beginning to panic.
A path led up one side of the mountain, and then went down to a ledge. I hopped down, and found myself up against a wall of rock, balancing on a boulder, up to my armpits in fast-moving water, right next to a waterfall.
And I couldn't swim!
I never prayed harder in my life than I did at that moment...when, a few seconds later, my brother, who decided not to hike in because of an ankle condition, and another adult leader came around the corner in front of me, coming in from the end of the trail. Michael waded into the river, and stretched out his walking stick to me, so I could get across safely.
I forgave him every dirty trick he ever played on me in that moment...at least, up until that moment...
Lil' Elvis (my next brother)
I named him Elvis here, because I think he secretly IS Elvis - he could do a really great Elvis impersonation as a kid. A really entertaining one, at the very least.
My favorite memory with him is still the ghost episode - one late night I'd finished up watching a movie in the living room of our last home in Bowie - I was in high school. On my way back to bed, I heard a sort of thumping noise in the computer room, behind some doors with wooden slats.
I peered through those slats, and saw what looked like a huge black figure behind the doors, but I couldn't tell for sure.
I opened one side of the door to find myself face-to-face with this huge black figure that blocked the light from the streetlights outside. Did my dad leave a blanket on the curtains again?
I put my hand into the room, only to feel another cold hand reaching for me...
I jumped about three feet, and so did Elvis. We scared each other.
Our house had some intermittent ghost sightings over the years, and we both thought the other was a ghost.
BlessYourBeautifulHide (my third brother)
This brother was a massive nerd gone good. All of us (the first three of us) struggled with weight problems as children and teenagers, so we just assumed we were a jolly giant family.
Along came BYBH, who started into that same path, but somewhere around middle school he discovered girls AND weight training, and sharply diverged from the 'jolly giant' model we'd established. A rogue child...but he was so good-natured we couldn't say anything bad about him.
When he turned 12, another big church activity came up. The all-night-long dance marathon.
I was a sucker for these, and swore that I would win. I would outlast everyone and win the big prize. Such was my pattern that I still couldn't see it, even though four years had passed since the Narrows trip.
We started out, and I broke out my best moves. Little BYBH, still in the family dumpy phase of his life before girls and weightlifting, started stepping from side-to-side, the easiest and least-interesting dance move ever, but with a determination that wouldn't quit.
Ten o'clock came. Eleven o'clock. Towards midnight people started dropping out, but BYBH kept to stepping, side-to-side.
One o'clock, and I was sweaty toast. I gave up. Little brother kept on going.
Guess who won?
He went on to win many other honors in his life - college, a great career, beautiful family, black belt in Tae Kwon Do, and admittance to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Prince of a guy (and I'm not just saying that because I use him whenever something goes wrong with my computer...)
Will upload the last three tomorrow...
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