brothers

Jeff is our middle boy – he arrived via c-section, and entered our home first. One month later came his big brother, Tomas, via a plane from Guatemala. The moment Tomas entered our home (and Jeff could actually see), he watched his 10 month old big brother move with a deftness like no other. At first, he followed Tomas with only his eyes. Scooting, crawling, and running after him quickly emerged over the next year.  

One summer morning, I was watching our two toddler boys running around the back yard with a few same sized neighbors. One of the neighbor boys walked up to Jeff, snatched the ball out of his hands, and gave him the ‘stink eye’. “What an asshat,” I thought (about a 2 year old). I watched and waited as Jeff stood frozen, unsure of his next move. Out of nowhere, his big brother emerged. Tomas walked up to the boy, turned and faced him, rose both of his pudgy hands and pushed the kid about 5 feet back. A silent agreement was made in that moment.

“I got your back,” their locked eyes said to one another.

“W O A H…. easy there, buddy,” is what I said, while internally, my heart sang with glee.

We did not see those neighbors much after that.

No harm, no foul. 

“Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero!” 

~Marc Brown