Saturday, October 31, 2009

Single Sibling


For my brother, Ken, 1/22/68-10/31/88

Two innocent children
Played together as siblings do
Fought one minute
Giggled the next
His feet were always so ticklish
But they were hard to get
When he was wrestling me
To the TV room carpet
We watched Fat Albert on Saturdays
Ate Dad's grilled cheese and tomato soup
While Mom gave piano lessons
We were each other's summer best friends
When we went on our annual camping trips
Hunting for weird bugs and baby toads
And singing Queen songs at the top of our lungs
In our one-of-a-kind TravelAll vehicle
We walked to school together in the morning
Almost always late
And played kick-the-can in the street at night
We blared the "Big Foot" record out of the window
And made up our own game to go with it
We took art lessons together
While listening to The Carpenters on WDOV
We convinced our babysitter
To fill up big cups with peanut butter for our snack
And we got caught by our parents
I went to his Little League games
He went to my concerts and recitals
He taught me Asteroids and Pitfall
But never once let me win
He attempted to drown out my Xanadu soundtrack
With his KISS albums
But he never expected that I'd like their songs, too
We created goofy lyrics to pop songs
And we called each other funny names
And he teased me endlessly
But defended me fiercely
And then somehow
We grew up
And in all that time
I would have never believed
That he wouldn't be here
To relive those memories
With me

6 comments:

Kelly said...

I know Ken IS with you. These posts break my heart every year. I am sure he is somewhere just wishing he could hug his little sister right now. I hope the happiness that your boys give you each Halloween helps dampen the hurt that you also feel that day. Thinking of you.

Kathy B. said...

Sending love and hugs.
Love,
K.

L a u r a said...

You have such wonderful memories of your time with Ken. I can almost picture you both back in the day. =) I love reading all your stories about you both growing up together!!

Reach up--I can envision him laughing loudly and having a high five ready for you as you reminisce!!

Gemma said...

So beautifully written. You have such wonderful memories. Thank you for sharing them.
Love you.

peggy said...

Beautifully said!

Kristin said...

Very beautifull written! Thank you for sharing your memories with us!!