Oh Brother!

If you are a girl, this, I think, is the essence of having a brother.  When I showed my daughter this picture, she thought her brother was trying to jump on her, but my son had already told me... he was trying to grab her belt and pull her into the water. 

I have three sisters, and I always used to wish I had a brother.  Brothers were something of a mystery to me.  They seemed so entertaining.  So funny, so... ridiculous.  They can definitely be a pain, but usually, their humor balances out their annoying tendencies.  I know this because now I have a son and a daughter, and even though I don't have a brother, I have an uncle who is just seven years older than me.  When we were kids, we used to play together.  Usually, this consisted of us fighting about what we wanted to watch on TV.  I always voted for cartoons, or something funny and NOT scary, and he always voted for Godzilla movies... which were bad enough on their own, but then he would launch into a very convincing rendition of a mummy with staring eyes.  He's stalk me around the living room with his arms out and say in a monotone, "YUM, YUM, EAT 'EM UP!" until I freaked out.  At first I tried reasoning with him ("Can you cut it out please?") and then I threatened to tell, which worked perfectly.  As soon as I threatened to tell, his normal voice would come back, "NO!!  No, don't tell, I'll stop, I'll stop."  Of course, this only lasted a couple of minutes. 

I see with boys, there is always a lot of poking, nudging, and physical comedy.  Girls... that's not naturally our strength.  Our silliness is less Three Stooges and more... I don't know... Friends? 

So when I took the kids to a local beach the other day in an attempt to "do" a few more things in the last bit of summer before the crazy routine of school and other obligations resumes, I was not surprised that while everyone had fun, they also managed to annoy each other, too. 

They complain about each other every day, but I really do think they really like each other.  I hope so.  They each miss the other one when they're not around.  After all, as I like to remind them, he was the first person on this Earth who made her laugh... 

Do you hear me, you two? you like each other... you really like each other.