It was great having my little brother stay with us over the weekend. He's everyone's best friend. My husband loves talking volleyball with him, I love talking everything with him, and my girls have fun with him, too.
I came into the kitchen yesterday where Caroline was helping him make dinner, just in time to hear her ask: What's your favorite kitchen untensil, Uncle Jonny? And he answered her matter of factly. I think he liked the garlic press. Hers was the blender.
I don't know why, but that killed me.
Another good thing about having uncles around: they so generously provide the character-building torment my girls miss out on from not having brothers in the house. (This was during warm up, by the way, not a game.)
I grew up with three brothers, so that should tell you something about my character.
Look at these guys: the self satisfaction is measuring off the charts, as usual.
Here are some things I want to mention about my brothers.
Jon is the youngest in our family. He is such a great person, just so funny, thoughtful, kind, and interesting. He works for the State Department in Washington, D.C., which is far away from here. He has a few passions in life: volleyball, cooking, writing, and movies. More importantly, he is keen about candy and frog catching, pursuits I instilled in him as we were growing up.
Anyway, so he started a blog. It's called the Best Picture Project, wherein he is reviewing every film to win the Oscar for Best Picture since the invention of the Oscars.
Will you please visit and leave him a comment sometime? Tell him to stop teasing Sophie when she's trying to practice her serve. Tell him to move back west. Return in spades the character-building torment he bestows upon me and my girls.
And then there's my brother Tim. He's the eldest. Not the most mature, just the eldest. He's the incredibly gifted surgeon who moved to Las Vegas because he missed me so much. Peripheral nerve surgery...it's amazing stuff, and my brother is very good at it. I keep meaning to invite you to listen to a radio program he does on Friday nights from 6:00-7:00 pm PDT. The radio station is Talk Radio AM 720 Las Vegas, or you can listen to it online at kdwn.com/streamer/.
One thing I love about my brother: he does not talk down to anyone. If you listen to his radio show, you'll come away thinking you too can perform nerve surgery, that's how plainly he explains things. I swear I could decompress your common peroneal nerve if you were feeling lucky.
To me that's a sign of true brilliance mixed with genuine self confidence, when a person can distill the essence of what he knows in a way that is easy for others to understand.
Don't ask me to do that, by the way. Don't ask me to distill anything that's inside my head. Even the guys in Hazmat suits don't dare to venture there.
I have another brother, as well. His name is Matt. He is so smart I actually can't tell you what he does, no matter how plainly he explains it to me. It has something to do with computers and technology, possibly along the lines of world domination. But he is also a great guy, so nice and thoughtful, enthusiastic about candy, and almost always in India.
One of these days I'll tell you about my sisters. I have three of them as well. But first make sure you're comfortable and have a good snack, because it will take me much longer to tell you how amazing they are.
