Tomorrow is my oldest brother's birthday. He will be 76. I am 62, 14 years & an entire generation younger than Peter. He graduated from high school in the heart of the Eisenhower administration; I graduated the year after the Summer of Love.
Our relationship is... complicated.
It has always been that way, from the days when he asked Mom why his baby sister had to always talk such drivel to the present here & now.
Had decided a couple months ago to do something special on his birthday. John & I are taking over his favorite Chinese dinner from his favorite take out place. Just dropping it off, with a card - I have a history of exasperating him. Call me cowardly, but would rather not risk getting That Look.
Stopped by Golden Dragon on Wednesday for our own take out & mentioned we'd be coming by on 12/15 & why. Which was when I received a most unexpected & deeply treasured gift of my own.
The two women behind the counter started talking about their impression of Peter. How kind he was, how much he cared for others, how he connected with them & their families when he delivered hoagies or pizza for a local pizza place. "We don't even like the food from there that much, but we got it just so we could visit Peter when he delivered it," they said, with huge smiles.
That is the brother I always sensed existed. The one I got to fully experience over the two or three years - in the mid 1990s - when he was the best sort of brother. The person who, in my experience, was carefully & as completely as possible buried under layers of something he wasn't, isn't.
I expected to drop a present by for my brother tomorrow. I got an unexpected, priceless gift, in return. About as wonderful as life gets!
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