i went to albany yesterday and hung out with my little brother. there's nothing really "little" about him anymore. he's a grown man. has a wife, is a pastor, and even has kids.
adam and emily have recently embarked on foster parenting. they've had 2 children for a little over a month. and 8 year old and 5 year old. you could say they were thrown into it.
but still, on adam's day off, he took time to hang out with me and my children. (em was in and out, but had to work.) after lunch and some site seeing (yes in albany) we went to a park. isaiah and adam immediately went to the basketball court and were shooting and kicking balls. after a while isaiah was running through the grass and i watched as adam ran from one end of the court to the other shooting lay-ups. i'm still amazed sometimes that's adam. the man's body i see is adam.
at one point we were all on the swings. isaiah was laying on his tummy rubbing his feet in the bark. alaythia was on my lap flapping her arms as the wind blew in her face. and there was adam, in the middle.
i love to watch the men in my life let go and have fun. (like watching matt tube behind his uncle's boat on the columbia.) adam got on the swing and immediately started pumping his legs. 'let's see if i can get my head over the bar'. he reaches and strains, pumps and within seconds his head is above the top bar of the swing.
i laugh and shake my head....secretly happy to see him doing it. we talk about 'launching' off, but then our adult logic takes over and we think better of it.
as we both slowed down adam said, 'how did we get here?' i'll admit i did pretend to not get it at first. i wanted to hear what he was thinking. i think he was shocked at the contrast. swinging with your sister, which feels so normal, but then her kids are there...and yours will be home after school. 'when did we become become adults? with children none the less!' i'll admit i'm still getting used to my little brother having kids.
but my little brother is once again amazing me. he's doing a fantastic job, working hard and loving his wife and kids incredibly well. and i was privileged to get to witness it first hand yesterday.
we may not be swinging much together these days, but we are building a new layer of memories. like last night when we fixed dinner for all the kids......and then all ate together. spills, discipline and all.
adam and emily have recently embarked on foster parenting. they've had 2 children for a little over a month. and 8 year old and 5 year old. you could say they were thrown into it.
but still, on adam's day off, he took time to hang out with me and my children. (em was in and out, but had to work.) after lunch and some site seeing (yes in albany) we went to a park. isaiah and adam immediately went to the basketball court and were shooting and kicking balls. after a while isaiah was running through the grass and i watched as adam ran from one end of the court to the other shooting lay-ups. i'm still amazed sometimes that's adam. the man's body i see is adam.
at one point we were all on the swings. isaiah was laying on his tummy rubbing his feet in the bark. alaythia was on my lap flapping her arms as the wind blew in her face. and there was adam, in the middle.
i love to watch the men in my life let go and have fun. (like watching matt tube behind his uncle's boat on the columbia.) adam got on the swing and immediately started pumping his legs. 'let's see if i can get my head over the bar'. he reaches and strains, pumps and within seconds his head is above the top bar of the swing.
i laugh and shake my head....secretly happy to see him doing it. we talk about 'launching' off, but then our adult logic takes over and we think better of it.
as we both slowed down adam said, 'how did we get here?' i'll admit i did pretend to not get it at first. i wanted to hear what he was thinking. i think he was shocked at the contrast. swinging with your sister, which feels so normal, but then her kids are there...and yours will be home after school. 'when did we become become adults? with children none the less!' i'll admit i'm still getting used to my little brother having kids.
but my little brother is once again amazing me. he's doing a fantastic job, working hard and loving his wife and kids incredibly well. and i was privileged to get to witness it first hand yesterday.
we may not be swinging much together these days, but we are building a new layer of memories. like last night when we fixed dinner for all the kids......and then all ate together. spills, discipline and all.
4 comments:
Nat,
This entry made my mouth drop (did not know Adam has kids!) and warmed my heart at the same time, because I feel the some of the same things about my little bros. It's good to remember our youth!
Natalie,
I am so glad you are blogging now - you are amazing.
I often think that way too. How did I become the grown-up? And do I have the credentials? I'm starting to imagine I will feel this way when I am 50, 70 too.
How did we get here?
PS: I tagged you. It's a bunch of questions under the Fab Four meme on my blog. If you want to do it, you just take the prompts and write your own answers (like 4 jobs you have had, 4 places you have lived, etc.)
Have a great day.
hey. so cool.
I don't know Lisa Milton, but I echo her gladness about you blogging. It totally makes me feel like we're having another GREAT conversation, like the old days.
Sis,
Thanks for the kind words. There were so many things I enjoyed about the day. I love seeing you in your mother role outside of your home. I loved the 15 minutes that I had with Isaiah at the grocery store (I think that was the first time that we have ever had some uncle/nephew time to ourselves). It really is great to be with you. I was sad the other day when you said, "I feel like I don't even know you." But I think its these types of days that fight against that. You are a wonderful mother, and will always be my big sister. I love you.
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