They helped make me a more understanding, perhaps a more patient person; a more loving wife. Brothers taught me about life; things I would never have learned on my own. They taught me about toughness & how to appreciate masculinity (even bathroom humor – ugh!). They lived loyalty for me, & showed me how to receive & understand their kind of love. They taught me their antics – me, the direct recipient – & how to see the giftedness of the male spirit. At least for these reasons, I am forever a better wife, mother & hopefully sister.
Whenever they wonder what their purpose is in life, these boys, I want them to remember that part of it is in giving their sister the chance to become the woman she’s supposed to be. It’s their spirit that helps give her an understanding of her place in the world, a contrast to her own giftedness. It’s their brother-ness that helps her get beyond herself to see into the heart of another. I tell this to my brothers because I’m the only sister who can. I’ll tell this to my sons, because their sister won’t know it for years to come. And I’ll tell it to my daughter because she, whether she realizes it now or not, has a vast fortune of her very own.
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