This week's prompt over at Writer's Island is "the letter". I'm at work right now, and I'm thinking of this great poem I wrote in high school about a letter. I can remember some of it, but not enough of it to reproduce it from memory. However, because I'm thinking of that poem, I'm blocked to write anything else...so I'll dig that up tonight and post it.
In the meantime, I'll tell you about a letter I wrote this weekend instead. My brother went on a religious retreat this weekend. At 24, he's in a place in his life where he's been feeling lost and this retreat came at the right time for him. We're not a highly religious family in the going to church every Sunday sense, but we are of strong faith. My brother had wandered away from his faith, and was looking for his way back. Anyway, I digress. Part of what happens on this retreat is you receive letters from loved ones. So, on Friday, I spent some time composing a letter to my little brother. The brother I prayed for when I was 9 years old, because I no longer wanted to be an only child. The brother I treated like my little doll as a baby, dressing him up and carrying him around the house. The brother I read to, played with, entertained. The brother I brought to school with me to show off to my friends. The brother I would have long talks with when he was a teenager, trying to keep him from straying too far from our parents' ideals. The brother I've traveled with. The brother who is now growing into an exceptional young man, who I'm so proud of. And I reminded him of all this in that letter. He tells me he didn't make it past the first paragraph before there were tears in his eyes, and I didn't mean to make him cry, but I wanted him to know just how much it's meant to me to have him as a brother all these years. What a gift it was to me to be able to take the time to write this letter, to reflect on our relationship. As he becomes more of an adult, our relationship is changing into one of equals as opposed to a big sister, little brother thing. We are friends on a different level now. But he will always be my baby brother. And for that, I am grateful.
Be sure to visit Writer's Island for more castaways!
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4 comments:
That sounds sweet - it's always nice to have such a close relationships between siblings.
I think it's rare to have the same relationship as you grow older - especially good ones, people trend to drift apart with so many unknown changes.
You definitely sound like a good sister and friend.
How beautiful. You are clearly so close.
Retreats that allow families to send the gift of themselve in letters often open unexpected and wonderful doors to new levels of friendship within the family. If we take the time to think deeply about our loved ones it can become an unbreakable habit.
Oh, how fine. It's wonderful to know of siblings close and loving!
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