Throwback Thursday

Christmas 2004...
When open brotherly affection was still the gift of choice.

Throwback Thursday

Fall Break 2007

This Stuff(y) is Legend

These guys. 

They've been around a while.

That's Benn on the left. It's not Ben. It's Benn. Get it right.

In clockwise fashion, there's Steve and Dexter.

Then Baby, in the middle. Or maybe Little Bear. I can't tell them apart. The boys can, though.

These guys have backstories. They have histories. It's one of the great regrets of my life that I haven't had Derek and Joshua write them down for me. 

Benn is actually King Benn. King of the Stuffies. Steve and Dexter are brothers. Or cousins. I can't remember. Their dad is upstairs somewhere. Or maybe it's their uncle. 

Why don't I have it written down?

They come from their own countries, these stuffies. They have waged wars and fought battles. They've rescued each other from certain doom. The imagination that has gone into the care and feeding of these guys is extensive. And these are only four of the dozens of equally back-storied stuffed creatures upstairs.

Every. Single. One. has a name and a story and they all fit in the grand design of two boys who have developed a magical land with its own language and customs and myths (at least one of the stuffies was birthed from the belch of another. I can't remember which.)

Why don't I have it written down?

What a grand tale it is. What a grand undertaking it will be for me to delve deep into the heart of it.  I do believe I've just discovered a project that needs doing - now - before they get so old they forget.

I will have it written down.

Throwback Thursday - Brother Edition

This is me with my brother, Brian, shortly after we'd moved to Guam in 1972. I was 3. He was 6. We were adorable. Derek and Joshua were looking at the picture, and remarking at how big my smile was, and how Brian's looks a little off.

I told them that Papa had probably done something silly, and I was laughing about it, and Brian was talking through it. 

Brian was always talking.

I miss that.

I never thought I would. Some days, his talking drove me absolutely bonkers. He woke up talking and he went to bed talking and then there was all the talking in between. 

Joshua has picked up where Brian left off, though. I'm sure Brian is up in heaven, laughing at the fact that after so many years of quiet, my baby boy is picking up the mantle and running with it. But the joke is on him.

Because I love it. Yes, there are days when I think all the words are going to cause my head to explode. So. Many. Words. But when I hear the constant prattle and unceasing monologue that Joshua provides to my days, it reminds me of Brian and reminds me that there are never enough words. My 21 years of listening to him were just not enough. Each word becomes precious - like a flake of gold or a perfect gem. They can't be replaced and they can't be replicated.

Love you, BJ. Miss you every day.

Sir

Jasper
King of the GSDs

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