Monday, July 23, 2012

The Story of My Fake Brothers

    In 1970, my parents jumped the broom, exchanged vows, or whatever you might call it.  Shortly after, my brother was born, and life went on with just the three of them.  That is until I blessed this world with my presence 17 years later.  My brother was a wopping 16 when he met his first and only sibling....Me!  Needless to say, we each grew up as an only child, or at least that's how it seemed to be.
My brother and me.
My parents....

    Not too long after I was born, my InposterBro came along.  Our parents were and still are very close friends, so it was inevitable that we would become crib buddies and eventually lifelong friends.  When we were little, we used to chill by a plastic pool our parents would fill up for us.  Yup, we were pretty cool.  Like any awesome pool, this one had a 2 foot slide that I would gracefully go down.  My belly-blessed ImposterBro, on the other hand, would fearlessly jump from the top, first getting my attention, "Watsch this!!", then prepping which consisted of a few stomps and a couple of toe raises, and finally belly bustering into the pool causing yet another need for a fill-up.  Sometimes my ImposterBro wouldn't even make it to the jump because somewhere in the prep he would slip and slide surprising himself with a face full of water.  He would also get distracted by wildlife that would also prevent his jump.  Butterflies are pretty amazing!  He really hasn't changed much...


    Things were going great, but then our lives were interrupted by the birth of my PhonyBro.  The three of us became inseparable watching Ninja Turtles, bike riding, and building on the tree house.  At one point, ImposterBro and I decided to test out the ever-popular atomic wedgie.  Who better to use this on than PhonyBro?  The underwear ripped before it ever made it above his head; he ran, looking like Tarzan, to tell on us.  Over the years, we got in plenty of trouble, but that's what you're supposed to do with your siblings!

    Although some people may not agree, we grew up.  ImposterBro and I met the loves of our lives and got married, and I'm sure PhonyBro isn't too far behind.  We made so many memories, and even though we may live all over the U.S. (ImposterBro on the west coast, PhonyBro in the midwest, and me on the east coast), we will always be family.