The other day I stopped by my brother's office for a quick visit. Also, because I needed his help.
But more for the visit than the help...at least that's how I felt reflecting on it afterward.
I was probably there no longer than 30 minutes since it was a busy day for us both. We said hello and I made him give me a hug and he seriously squeezed the living daylights out of me. We talked and laughed and made plans for a trail run when my hamstring stops feeling like a piece of beef jerky and he gets fast enough to keep up.
When it was time to go, I practically skipped out the door.
Why?
Because I was so happy.
Happy to have a big brother. This big brother. Happy for him for everything he's accomplished in his life. He has a beautiful wife and four awesome kids. He speaks Thai and Laotian. He is an amazing cook. He is honest, generous, easy going, funny, and smart.
And he is an incredible doctor and surgeon.
It's hard to explain why Tim is such a great doctor without sounding dismissively biased as his sister but if anything, that's why I'm such an authority on the matter. I'm not trying to say he's perfect, mind you. I've watched my brother like a hawk since I was a kid and believe me, while I thought the sun rose and set on him, I didn't exactly notice a halo hanging over his head. But Tim always wanted to be a doctor. And I am telling you, since we were little, he's had the hands of an artist. Or a counterfeiter. Or perhaps a very skilled pickpocket.
Somewhere on that spectrum.
Was it a picnic growing up as Tim's little sister? That depends. If you call being forced to retrieve homemade boomerangs from a wasp nest in order to hang out with him and his hooligan friends then yes, it was quite the picnic.
But I digress. The point I'm trying to make is beyond his natural gifts, I've watched my brother work like an indentured servant to become the doctor he is today. Throughout our high school and college years he took grueling summertime jobs to fund his education: bringing in the harvest on ranches in Alberta, planting trees all over British Columbia, working up north (as in, the Yukon) in remote gold mines. During this time he also took a two year sabbatical to serve an LDS mission working with Thai and Laotian immigrants in Oakland, California.
I've watched how these and other challenging experiences have shaped my brother. I wish you could meet him so you'd know what I mean, but he is just a very genuine person. He doesn't fawn over you but he doesn't talk down to you, either. As a doctor, he is curious and intent on helping his patients. And he has the knowledge and ability to do just that.
In a way, you can get a sense of my brother by listening to his weekly radio show Friday nights at 6:00 p.m. PDT.
The station is Talk Radio AM 720 Las Vegas, or you can listen to it online at kdwn.com/streamer/.
I'm going to try to be better at announcing his show on my blog...maybe this is the biased sister in me, but I wish everyone in the world knew what a great surgeon he is. The difference he's made in people's lives who suffer from chronic nerve pain is nothing short of miraculous.
Something else that would be helpful to Tim, if you feel so inclined, is to take a moment to like his Facebook page. Social media...it's a great way to get one's name out there.
If someone were to ask me, back when I was a little kid, would I be surprised to know my brother would one day grow up to be a great surgeon, I would've looked that person dead in the eye and said I never had the slightest doubt.
Maybe I would've been surprised if Tim had walked on water. Not very, though. But for sure I always knew he was going to be a great surgeon.
I'm telling you.
