July 24, 2006

He's my Guy

My brother is now officially someone's daddy, as his son Michael was born a scant two and a half weeks ago.

I talked to my mom on the phone last night and she was gushing over Michael and how beautiful he is and then she said how amazing it was to watch my brother with the baby and with Laurie. "He really takes care of them," she said. "Well, that's his job," I told her.

A lot of women have a hard time seeing their sons as someone's husband and as someone's father and I think the transition from son to husband was a bit difficult for my mom, but she's handled it pretty well. The key, I think, is to keep your mothering-in-law mouth shut, which she's done to the best of her ability. (We're not a mouth-shut people.)

But it doesn't surprise me that my brother has shown himself to be a remarkable father already; it doesn't surprise my heart. There are dozens of baby and childhood photos of me where Guy is hovering over me. We fought a lot, don't get me wrong, but in the way it only can be in family, he was also my biggest supporter. There was no way he ever would've stood for someone else roughing me up or teasing me. (That was his job - badumbum.) Guy taught me how to tie my shoe and how to read. His love for all things science is infectious and I already know he and Michael will sit around talking about stars and dinosaurs and how planes fly.

When my mom's eldest brother laid dying in a hospital bed, she went to visit him and sat beside his bed. She said she grabbed his hand, careful not to upset the i.v., and as she held it she had the simple, yet radical, realization that this man was one of the closest things in the world to being her. Your sibling is the closest to what makes you you, biologically, than either of your parents or even your children.

And for Guy and I, it's just us. He's got me and I've got him and now there's this baby whose blood is my blood and I don't know how I ever got so lucky.

Posted by hannah at 02:18 PM