Brothers

Something that I have thought endlessly about since I found out I was pregnant was the concept of siblings.  My mother says one of the greatest accomplishments of her life is having children that love each other as much as my brother and I do. 

I have just spent three days with my brother. He was on his way to Kenya where he is doing research on small mammals.  It was three days in which we were able to cover a lot of ground.  From where we have been to where we are going.  There was a lot of processing about our family and the changes it has seen over the past ten years.  It was a short but powerful visit.  My daughter adores him and there is a part of me that still finds it strange that I am old enough to have a child that can sit on his lap. I sometimes, when I allow myself to think about it, ache at our distance.  Distance is something for another post, but what I really wanted to get to is the prayer that my children will love each other as much as my brother and I do.  That they will be there for each other through thick and thin.  That they will understand somethings about each other that no one else in the world can.  I also pray that my little growing family is never as far apart spatially as my parents and brother have become. I am not sure that is a fair prayer as I want my children to explore the world in the same way I have, or at least have the opportunity to.  Again, that is a topic for another post.