Thursday, February 16, 2012

Oh Brother (A Mama Kat Writing Prompt)

These are not my children (this is an iStock image) ........


What? Did you think my children would behave like this to each other?

Well of course they would, and they did!

As an introduction to this blog post, I must share with you that the shrillness of my scream at my 12 year old tonight, in the Zaxby's drive through (yes, the window was open and the employee was standing right there) when I yelled "STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" would have shattered glass. I know it mortified my 15 year old. The two of them had been sniping at each other, the car was making a weird noise, and the drive through experience was taking longer than usual. I lost it. I don't think my daughter, at that moment, considered her brother an asset to have around.

Carry on, prompt........

This week, random.org "chose" Mama Kat prompt number five for me: Share a story about a sibling.

I could have random.orged again, since I don't have conventional siblings. But you know the best prompts are the hardest ones.

I have had the brother who was born before me, who did not survive. He is the one my son's middle name is after (Kevin). Obviously I never knew him, but I have always admired my parents for having enough hope to try again. I guess I might not have been here if things had unfolded differently.

Then there are my two half brothers, my father's sons from a previous marriage. While I have usually written pretty freely about my children, in deference to Mike and Gary I won't go on and on. I will say this: we grew up in different households. The man who raised them after my father and their mother divorced did a bang-up job. They are kind and intelligent (hey, we do share DNA after all!). I have the benefit of getting to know them as adults without ever going through an immature sibling squabble or snit.

Three brothers. Each of them has influenced me even though we weren't "regular" siblings.


In that "grass is greener" way many of us fall prey to as children, I always dreamed of having siblings. I always planned on having more than one child, on the premise that being an only child wasn't "ideal."

I don't know what I could have done differently at the "scream" moment tonight. I know I have a strong tendency to try to stop conflict in its tracks. I know conflict between siblings is inevitable.

I had a stillborn brother and I have two half brothers.

Tenley and Wayne Kevin are fortunate to have one another. Alive and "whole" siblings. Screaming mother aside.

Mama's


4 comments:

kisatrtle said...

Nearly everyday I have a scream moment. It usually invovle my younger two and ends with instructions not to speak to each other the rest of the day

Recovering Supermom said...

The fighting between my kids drives me bonkers and has led me to many scream moments. I used to fight with my brother a lot when we were kids, so it makes me wonder if this is payback. :/

KatBouska said...

Wow! First, I can't imagine what your parents must have endured with a still birth. How incredibly painful! Your boys are lucky to have each other. It just might take them some time to figure that out!

Suzanne McClendon said...

I am sorry that your parents lost your brother. One of my daughters was stillborn, too. It stays with you forever. There's always someone missing.

I had two younger brothers (twins) and a baby sister after that, all before I was three years old.

Yep. There were arguments and many, especially with my little sister because she was the "baby".

I'm lucky in that my children do not generally argue with each other. If they are arguing, they are doing it out of earshot.