Tuesday, January 4, 2011

3/365

No Rivalry

I took this over the summer. Cameron and Úna spent half an hour just lying there, talking about nothing, telling silly jokes, Úna letting Cameron get the tangles out of her hair. That little moment made me ache with happiness. It takes such trust and comfort to let someone play with y0ur hair or to talk while resting your head on someone's shoulders in the sun.

Watching them I thought of a moment I witnessed when I was 16. Several of my friends and I were waiting outside a church in Lake Tahoe in the middle of the night, in the snow and cold waiting to be let in. My friend Laura was leaned up against her brother Greg while he leaned on the porch railing. He had his arms around her to keep her warm and she kept talking to me like this was no big thing. I was so aware in that moment that the only thing I felt I was really missing in life was a sibling that would drive me crazy until that moment I was cold and needed someone to put their arms around me to keep me warm. A big brother who would be there when I needed him.

I never had siblings. My kids do. It was the least and the best thing I could provide them.

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