Making It Up to Ben

As I was writing the Little Brother Chronicles, I know it appeared I was picking on Ben. : )

(In case you missed it, the Saga of the Moon Boot was the overwhelming favorite.)

After sharing all of those embarrassing moments with you all, I promised I would make it up to him. I promised I had a purpose for it all. : )

So in this last installment of the Little Brother Chronicles, I hope it will be abundantly clear how much I love you, Ben, and how proud I am to be your big sister. : )

There are more funny stories to tell, like the time my mom got a phone call from the local grocery store:

"Sally, this is Carol down at Evans Foods. I was just wondering if you were aware that Ben was down here trying to buy a can of spinach?"

(Mom thought he was playing at his friend, Adam's, house so this was news to her)

"Well, he doesn't have any money on him, but we can credit it to you if you really need the spinach." (Aren't small towns great?)

We later learned he needed spinach to be strong "like Popeye" so going to the grocery store to get it made sense to him. : )


Then there is the disaster he made of my Barbie's wedding! For months I planned Barbie's wedding, saving my allowance to buy the wedding dress and the furniture I needed to set the scene. All I asked Ben to do was walk Ken down the aisle and hold him up during the ceremony. Easy right? But no, Ben made peeing noises and made sure Ken urinated on all of the guests as he walked up the aisle! The ceremony was all down hill after that entrance!


Or, I could tell of the one and only time he tried to beat me up after watching Disney's Last Electric Knight.

But instead of more silly stories, I want to focus on the man he has become.

As we were growing up, Ben was my best buddy. We actually liked each other and had so much fun together. We moved a lot during some critical stages of growing up, and we leaned on each other throughout those times of adjustment.

Having different talents and interests, I'm thankful we were supportive of each other instead of competitive. I loved watching him excel at sports. I never missed a game! When he was pitching, I thought I'd have a heart attack from the stress of it all, but he was really good and it was fun to cheer him on. He was a football star, too. I can still see the game he had five different opponents hanging on him, trying to pull him down, but he wouldn't give up and drug all five in to the end zone with him for a touchdown.

When I was a Senior and Ben was a Freshmen, we were in high school together. Whenever I stopped by my locker, I had to keep an eye out for Ben because he liked to sneak up on me and carry me down the hallway like a sack of potatoes. He was still my younger brother, but he had ceased to be my "little" brother. : )

I'll never forget the day in high school when we sat in a Dairy Queen booth drinking milkshakes and asking each other how we got so lucky to have such a great family life. We've always known we were blessed.

Today, my little brother is a husband, a father, and a successful computer programmer. He married a great girl who became a great mother and wife. I'm just so proud of him and so in love with his kids and his wife, Angie.

He loves Jesus and is raising his kids to love Him, too. He is a man of God. The same kind of man I want my son to be someday.

When I think about a little brother, there is one image that comes to my mind.

I'm such a sentimental sap, I have tears running down my face as I type the end of this post.

I wanted you all to "know" my brother Ben so you would understand when I make this next announcement.

So now the moment you've all been waiting for....(At least Mia has been waiting) : )

Our little Monster Truck has a real name.

From now on, he is Benjamin, in honor of the best brother in the whole universe!

I love you, Ben!

Tweet

Pin It