he is in every sense of the word , my brother - minus legal technicalities which is of course , least important .
if you were to only ever spend even just point seven seconds with the two of us , you would , with wide eyes and mouth agape , agree more whole heartedly than you thought your whole heart was capable of .
the whole little brother - big sister relationship thing ? we've got it down pat . arguably even better than any of those which meet the legal standard .
we are loud obnoxious and annoying .
we ' talk to each other ' but really just end up talking over each other and to ourselves .
we play hard and laugh hard .
we are best friends .
he drives me insane and i love him to death .
it would be common and acceptable to say that he tests my patience . but i would like to say that those that test us ? teach us . if we will allow them .
he teaches me patience . he teaches me graciousness
our favorite movie is aladdin . . . and we're really good at making banana bread .
he forgets to flush the toilet and i throw a fit about it .
he has , the biggest heart of anyone i know .we also , are on the hit list of anyone that lives within at least a three mile radius of my house - i'm convinced no one actually killed us this past week because they knew their entertainment would die right along with us .
they may hate us but they also count on us .
we are a traveling
i try to help keep him stay aware of his surroundings and teach him as we go . . successfully about 97% of the time . the other 3% looks a little more like this ::
he's in his state of mumbling crooked riding oblivion . i am following behind .
i notice us approaching an innocent hunched - over old man innocently getting his mail .
i whisper-yell ahead of me :: ' eli , do not scare this old man! '
eli :: ' what?! '
me :: ' don't scare this old man ! '
eli :: ' okay! '
three . . .
two . . . .
and with all of the sound and might of his nine - year old body :: ' ROOOOAAARRRRR!!!!! '
straight . for . the old man .
i was horrified . mortified . confounded .
' ELI ?!?!?! '
he bashfully replied with all the genuine innocence of his heart ::
' i thought you said to scare him . . . '
we turned around , introduced ourselves and apologized to bob . . . . and roared laughing the entire way home and each retelling of the story .
the week goes on and our rides continue .
it rains and i whine about how cold i am . the rain stops and i complain about the humidity .
he detours for every ' U ' shaped driveway and rides through the grass i just got done telling him not to .
we create our own versions of the story behind where the new neighbors came from and who will occupy their home .
i am an incessant bottomless pit of questions . ones that don't allow for vague easy yes or no answers
as rightfully i could claim he tests me , he could argue the same about me .
but i won't . and he wouldn't .
aside from attempting to burn off our energy , our bike rides were also very educational .
all week i learned things and on our rides , would share what i learn and together we would practice and rehearse .
sound of music . only . . . not so graceful classy musical or coordinated .
and bible story .
here's what we learned this week ::
the bible is made up of 66 books and two testaments - the old , which has 39 books , and the new , which has 27 .
it was written over a period of about 1600 years by 40 different authors and in 3 different languages : greek , hebrew , and aramaic .
the 4 gospels are matthew , mark , luke , and john . after that comes acts .
the longest chapter of the bible is psalm 119 and the shortest verse is two words . Jesus wept . you can find it in john .
goliath was the tallest man in the bible standing at 9 1/2 feet tall . he was killed by david .
the oldest man of the bible was named methuselah and he lived to be 969 years old . his dad's name was enoch and both he , and elijah , were taken up to heaven without ever dying .
if you asked that little boy any question regarding any of those facts , he'd have the answer .
and i would like to say too , i just recounted it all from memory too .
we may be dysfunctional , but we bring out the best in each other . we teach each other . we embrace and invite each other and all of our failures , quarks , strengths , and child-likeness .
and to the untrained eye , this picture looks blurry and embarrassing but it's actually my favorite because if ever we could be actually captured , this is what we would look like .
he's my little brother . i'm his big sister .
but despite our ages , sometimes i think it's the other way around .
