My Family...

What a great day for me...I got to talk to practically my entire family (immediate) today: Kieran, Mom, Tree, & Rich. My brother...Rich (or "RICHAAARRRDDDD) as sometimes he is affectionately called) called me today while I was at the gym. Got me thinking about our relationship. Just the fact that he picked up the phone to call me (as he often does these days) for no other reason than to just say hi and catch up, really makes me so grateful to have him for a brother. Richard is a man of very few words most of the time, unless he likes you/is comfortable with you (and even then he can be stingy with his words), or unless he is sending you a letter about how you're adopted and were intially 'raised' by a pack of wild dogs (one of the funniest things I've ever read!). My brother holds a very, very special place in my heart. It's not that I don't love my sisters, but my relationships with each of my siblings is different. I have I guess what I would call a tenderness, or soft spot for my brother. Maybe partly due to the fact that he's the only boy (and Theresa and I would sometimes gang up on him when we were little). Perhaps another reason is the tragedy he and his wife suffered in 2000. They don't talk about it (esp. Richard) so please don't say anything if you happen to see one of them. My niece, Anna Elisabeth, was born on July 20th, 2000 and died on July 26th. There was something wrong with her heart and she was operated on at St. Christopher's Hospital. They gave her an 80% chance of survival, so when the doctor came in and broke the news that she was gone, it was totally and utterly heart-shattering. I will never, ever, ever forget the effect it had on my brother. When I think about it even a decade later, it brings me to tears and I would do anything to remove that pain from his life.
Miraculously, he and Em had another baby boy (Owen, now almost 9, little brother to Jake, almost 13). But my brother kind of crawled inside of himself as far as Anna was concerned. We rarely (if ever) spoke of her with him. I can understand not wanting to experience the pain. Every year, however, since her death, he and his family host a fundraiser in her honor. For the past several years they have hosted an Alex's Lemonade Stand and have immense success (so much so that they were featured on the front page of their local newspaper last year!). To withstand that kind of pain, and do something good with it deserves the utmost respect (from me, at least). My brother is still one of the funniest people on this planet, and with fabulous taste in music! And my relationship with him (better now in my  'new' life) is one that I cherish, treasure, and hold in a very special place in my heart. I LOVE YOU RICHAAAARRRRRDDDDD!