Do you ever think that life has a strange way of throwing coincidences at you?
Yesterday my closest brother Duncan contacted me to arrange dinner and a few drinks.
I had just blogged about him and was thinking about my other brothers all day.
Last night my 3rd brother Mark contacted me to tell me 2nd brother John was on the radio, an hour long local radio special with the music of his life.
I smiled at his first choice of The Bear Necessities from The Jungle Book, a film that we loved as kids and he was saying that his 3 young kids love now.
It seemed too coincidental not to have significance, so I contacted my youngest brother Stuart in Holland just to say hello and make sure all was well with him and the family.
All well in their worlds.
Now I wonder, wy should I feel the need to know they are all okay?
Is it normal and natural for brothers?
Or there an enhanced need because I’m the eldest and always looked after them as kids when our parents were working shifts?
Back in our childhood, we lived in poverty, no bathroom, an outside toilet shared with three other families. Mum and Dad slept in a pull-down bed in the alcove of the kitchen and us 5 boys slept in the one bedroom, 2 sets of bunk-beds and a cot.
In the winter mornings, there was ice on the inside of the windows and our breathes blew white as we spoke and struggled to get warm round the fire.
The thing is, we didn’t know that we lived in poverty, everyone in my street was the same.
No moaning about ir, life is what it is.
But compare that upbringing with my three kids, large detached houses, en-suite bathrooms, central heating, private gardens, university for all three and private school for the munchkin.
I’ve brought all three of mine up to be independent, they will never need to rely on anyone else for moiney, that gives them the freedom of choice to change their lifes if they find themselves unhappy in their future circumstances.
They are very close, as thick as thieves actually and I know that occasionally they lie to me, thats part of growing up and not telling the parents.
But I look at them, the three of them sitting on the sofa comfortable in each others space, laughing at whatever crap is on yourube or facebook and it makes me proud.
They might have a better start in life than I did and have huge material differences in their surroundings, but the good thing is that the love between my lot is as strong as that between my brothers and I.
Love, affection and time spent together is what binds us regardless of environment.
Hopefully it is the same for you.
DancingBhoy 