Twins: Born nine years apart

As adults we have the benefit of looking back on certain times in our lives with the wisdom of age and experience. I’m sure everyone can recall a memory, fond or otherwise, that sticks with them; Many memories I guess really.

I recall one particular day back in the late 1970’s that was particularly special for me. It was my birthday you see and I was turning nine. It’s a reasonably unremarkable birthday I think, not being a major milestone like thirteen (entering ones’ teens), eighteen, twenty-one, thirty, forty etc. but is was a pretty major event for me. It was the day my youngest brother was born. Yep, that’s right! He was born on my birthday. It was pretty cool, although my birthday kind of sucked that year also as his birthday stole the limelight. I don’t mind though. He was a pretty cute little dude and due to his most excellent choice of arrival dates I saw him as mine; We were twins, nine years apart.

Because I was nine years older I had somewhat of an active role changing nappies, feeding him, helping with homework, baby-sitting, driving him to school, practicing hockey together and of course celebrating birthdays together. Later, my wife and I used to take him, and my two other younger siblings, shopping for clothes, to the movies and various other places.

I recall one such outing in which we took my youngest brother and my sister (13 years my junior) to the Royal Adelaide Show, which is a big agricultural show where they have rides and sideshows and farm animal judging and things. It used to be pretty cool. You can Google it. So, being smart we arranged a meeting point in the advent of one of them getting lost. My brother would have been about 9 years old and my sister about 5. My sister was reasonably easy to control but my brother…Not so much. It seemed he was happy to wander about aimlessly looking everywhere but where we were going. It was stressful. One minute he was there and the next…Well, he was not.

We had agreed that if lost they would need to make their way to the massive ferris wheel which could be seen from anywhere in the show grounds. They often get 25,000-30,000 people in the show at any given time; Far too many to go searching for one little dude so we thought that was a logical option. Anyway, after about fifteen minutes my wife and I, sister in tow, arrived at the wheel but he wasn’t there. Now I panicked, just a little bit. We went over to the man operating the wheel to ask if he had seen my brother and he smiled and pointed upwards. Yep, he was riding the ferris wheel! Apparently he had told the guy he was waiting for us because he had gotten lost and that scored him a free ride. Resourceful.

I can recall many things about my brother, the pictures he’d draw, him running around the hockey field, lugging his bag along towards my car after a long school day, him helping me get Christmas day meals prepared, in fact later in life we created a new recipe together, we called it mush and it tasted much better than the name suggests…We also shared shared my 30th and his 21st birthday celebration in the year 2000. I recall he was serving me large glasses of scotch as I cooked the BBQ…The next day wasn’t my best but he thought it was funny and I think it was an awesome night, or so I have been told. I think that was the last night we were all together as a family with my mum alive…

I also recall that day I learned he had decided to move overseas to live. I’ve seen him once in the 11 or so years he has been there. He’s made a pretty good life though, has married a lovely young girl and has produced a pretty cool little bubba, my niece. My wife and I are looking forward to seeing them all in July 2018. Sure, we can Skype but it will be great to see them all in person.

My brother has grown into a pretty interesting individual. He thinks a lot and has a rare ability to share his thoughts logically and impartially. He is a prolific steemit blogger and writes with passion and a genuine desire to promote the platform and independent thought amongst his steemit peers. He has created a real-world business singlehandedly; One that makes a difference to people, helps their development and personal growth and has built an amazingly diverse group of friends who respect and value him.

When I think back to that very first day I met him I think I was a little covetous of him considering I probably thought of him as my 9-years-delayed-twin. From there we did lots together and we had many good times, he and I and my other brother who was 5 years my junior. We were typical boys. As adults we have spent many years apart being spread around the globe, but that can’t diminish the pride I feel for them both. Sometimes I read my brother’s posts on steemit and am reminded of the little dude who shared my birthday, who I protected, encouraged and supported. He’s come a long way and if you don’t follow his work you should at least check out his blog. He has a lot of value to give, freely, openly and from the heart. I am biased of course.

You’re a champ @tarazkp.

Design and create your ideal life, don’t live it by default
@galenkp

Image taken tonight at Semaphore, South Australia