Brotherly Love

I've just been away for three days of meetings. I didn't take my wifi for my laptop so was only checking emails on my phone. In response to my birthday invitation I received a series of one line messages from my older brother last night and was a little baffled by some (most) of them. I thought them to be the reminiscent ramblings of someone who may have had one beer too many.

He rang me this afternoon at work upon our return from Twba and asked me if I'd received the emails. I said well yes, I had but I didn't really "get" them and we went on to talk of other things.

Imagine my complete surprise when I got home and pulled my emails in on the laptop - and discovered that there were actually PHOTOS attached to each email - which put a completely and utterly different perspective to his words.......then I understood what he meant and realised there was no rambling involved at all - it was just brotherly love that drove him to send them.

Here they are, recreated in order of sending and receiving - imagine as you read the words (in italics) just what I might have been thinking when I received the messages but no photos last night. Then relate the words to the photos - they make all the difference don't they?

THE BLOKE ON THE RIGHT WILL SHOW UP FOR A WHILE....taken at Jeanette's wedding - I still have that bear (my grandparents gave him to me when I was 3 months old) - it's the one the boys used to kidnap from my bedroom and leave a ransom note in his place; I'd find him dangling at the end of a piece of string tied to the clothesline, blowing in the breeze.

HANG ON...I'LL HAVE TA CHECK MY SCHEDULE.....not sure what my mother was thinking when she dressed me this day - or Peter for that matter.

OOOO! THERE'LL BE GAMES THEN? not sure what's going on here either; I remember the plastic footballs we had but can't believe I did much with them except stub my toe. I'm not a fan of football. My clothing would indicate that this photo was taken the same day as the one above. Don't know why I'm almost rugged up and Peter is half naked. Obviously even as a child I felt the cold. My thongs fit well tho....and it's a nice hat. That's important.

YOU STILL GONNA DRESS UP AND LOOK HAPPY? well I don't look overly thrilled do I? My bear was probably kidnapped that morning.

MAYBE HAVE A DRINK? sitting on the huge piece of marble which formed one half of the built in barbecue at my grandparent's property, 3/4 of a mile up the road from where we lived. That's my grandma's back on the right. I'm enjoying some light refreshment while Peter concentrates on his lamb chop. I'm sure it's a lamb chop; it's all we ever ate considering it was a sheep property. Note the beautiful bird fountain in the background. Also note how my mother dressed us both the same. Perhaps these photos explain where I got my lack of fashion sense from. Also note that Andrew hasn't shown up yet. He still wasn't thought of.

OR PONDER THINGS UNFATHOMABLE at the beach; fabulous fashion sense again - green and white check bloomers with a red, white and blue hat. Yep, definitely a pattern developing here.

LIKE HOW YOU GONNA PERFECT THAT LOOK FOR YOUR FUTURE HUSBAND say no more!

I HOPE NO UNDESIREABLES SHOW UP! at last, here he is, putting in an appearance. Our baby brother, Andrew, the third child my mother never meant to have. I'm so glad she did!!! He pulled faces like that through most of his childhood...and beyond.

DRY YOUR EYES GIRL! here we are, the three of us on the bank of the Condamine River where we grew up. We practically lived at the river. I remember the dress - it had a sailor theme, hence the rope. Peter loves this photo and wants to have it blown up for his wall; it speaks to him of our childhood - it does to me too. Andrew was a skinny little runt; never had an ounce of fat on him and still doesn't.

So there you have it - can you see why I thought his words were a bit random? I could kind of get the gist of what he was saying but once the photos were added - well, it's all obvious. 

I rang him back tonight as soon as I realised there were photos and explained the situation; he said he was a bit puzzled by my initial reaction and we laughed about how it all now makes sense.

I love that he took the time and effort to pick them out and give them captions and send them in response to my invitation photo; he left the best one 'til last and he told me to wipe my tears; he knows me well. I love it too because it shows his love and we don't often see that. I just love it and him and the memory of the three of us.