02 December 2009

Gone Again



I always assumed that my brother and I, if either one of us were to have kids, would raise our kids together. 

Some years ago, Janet showed up, and was instantly a part of our family.  She was a younger, more cynical, more evil version of me... someone I definitely wanted to be friends with.  Who else can say that about their sister in law?! 

She stuck around for a while, and eventually she and my brother got married.  Three years ago I got to perform the ceremony... yes, I get to say I married my brother.  And, if that wasn't great enough, a month later, my very first (and so far, one and only) nephew was born.  About 2 1/2 years younger than The ShortBus, it has been a long wait for him to be old enough for the two of them to be the right age to begin to play together.

Right about the time the SlobberBeast started to get old enough that he could run around and play with the ShortBus, my brother and his wife decided that financially, the best choice to make was to move back to Indiana, where Janet is from.

Two weeks ago, my brother brought the SlobberBeast out for a visit.  Janet had to stay behind to work (retail at the holidays... sucks), but the boys were able to come and spend two weeks visiting.  It was great to see them, but reminded me about how quickly toddlers grow.  SlobberBeast left a barely walking, barely talking, munchkin, and returned a running, active, chatterbox with a personality all his own.  He and the ShortBus had tons of fun.

When I said good bye last night I couldn't help but think about the fact that they weren't going to be here for Christmas.  Although I shoved the thought aside then, it has been occurring to me all day... they aren't going to be here for Christmas... and that thought leads me to all sorts of other thoughts about times they won't be here.  All those day to day moments and little bits of growing up the kids aren't going to have together... all those family memories the ShortBus and SlobberBeast are going to have that don't include one another.

When the SlobberBeast was born, I had all kinds of thoughts about what great friends he and the ShortBus would have, and what great memories they would have growing up together.  Now I just hope they have the chance to get to know one another a little, and maybe have some fun together every once in a while when they get to visit.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

yeah...I know.

Jesslyn said...

My cousin and I always wanted to raise our kids together...Her kid is 7 now. So, uh...I guess I'm a bit behind.
Also- a huge reason we moved back to the North Bay was for family- sometimes there's no replacement.