My baby brother

For the original questions, go to the comments here because I'm paraphrasing.


Do you have siblings?  Do they have kids?  How's your relationship with them?


I can't believe I've never told you about my baby brother!!  He's so great!

This is the only baby picture I have of us online.  

My mom has all the physical pictures at our house.

Don't look at me, I look tired.  Just look at him.

Isn't he handsome!

My baby brother, Clint, is three years younger than I am.  I have always been fiercely protective of him - remember when I told you I'd pretend he and my cousins were my babies?  No one was mean to my brother but me.  I was mean to him at times, but for the most part we stuck together. When either of us would get in trouble, we'd always say "Don't tell Mom okay?  I'll be your best friend!"  We'd leave the doors unlocked for each other so we wouldn't get caught coming home late and I remember one Halloween he was supposed to go to haunted houses with some friends from school.  They were kind of the popular kids and he really wanted to go with them and they stood him up.  I hated seeing how disappointed he was that the cool kids just kicked him to the curb like that.  He ended up going with our cousins and an hour after he left, those kids showed up at our house.  I stood on our front porch and yelled at them for a solid five minutes because I was so mad they stood up my brother.  I think I was 15.

My brother is a computer genius.  He knows everything there is to know about computers.  For our wedding reception last April, he made our video and it looked better than any professional video I've ever seen!  Ever since I can remember, he's been drawing on things, cutting pictures out of magazines, perfecting his signature and just being a cool artist.  However, ask him a computer question at your own risk.  You're likely to get the history of the computer as well as all the details of the electronic components when all you want to know is do I check the box or not!!!???

  I took this from his Facebook.  I have no idea what this was for but 

he looks so professional and smart!

Unfortunately, my brother has that artist mentality.  You know, that one that says a job with benefits or even a decent paycheck isn't as important as doing what you love.  The mentality that says as long as the light bill is paid it's all good.  I love that about him, the laid-back, cool as a cucumber outlook but at some point practicality has to be taken into consideration and just having the light bill paid doesn't cut it!  However, in true sibling fashion he says the same thing about me.  He says I should be doing more with my professional life, that being a receptionist is not worthy of my skills.  Then I shoot back that he shouldn't be a contract IT person, that he should be running some design firm somewhere.  Then he tells me I should develop a brand and market myself.  Then I say why don't you start your own IT consulting firm, you know enough.  Then he says I should be getting paid to write.  Then I say he should be getting paid more to do what he does.  Then he tells me to shut up.  Then I say he was adopted.  Then he says I was just a trial run, that Mom and Dad only stopped when they had him because they finally got it right.

He had amazing musical taste too.  He used to send me CDs of music he burned and I didn't realize how truly talented he was until I heard other people's burned CDs and heard how choppy they were and how my brother's mixes had a ton more musicality.  And I knew it was just a hobby for him.  He designed flyers for parties and that and spinning was how he made side money in college.  He has an Industrial Design degree and last I checked, his dream job would be to design cars.  He looooves cars.  I remember when he bought his Honda Accord and he tricked it aaaalllll out.  He was the first in Kansas City to really be on the import scene.  Of course, you know, back when doing that stuff was cool.  He had it lowered, tinted the windows, changed out the headlights, put lights underneath and customized everything he could on that car - it was spotless and all the girls loved it!  Those nasty-ass, fast girls would call the house for him and I would hang up on their nasty asses every time.  I was rude to every girl who came around.  I could see in their eyes - they were smitten by his curly hair, they loved how he was such a gentleman to them, they loved how he was so soft-spoken and polite.  Oh I had my eye on them hoes.  All of them got the stink-eye from the evil older sister!  

But anyway - oh my goodness, he is hilarious!  He has this dry sense of humor that has me shaking my head at how my baby brother got to be so cool.  I love sitting and talking with him, getting his take on the world.  Artists have very unique views on the ordinary and it's fascinating to hang out with him.

You know, he really should be one of those guys in Northern California starting up some kind of computer-web-design-graphics-type company.  He's so freakin smart and talented and he could do so much!  But, I have learned that my brother does things at his own pace, in his own time and in his own way.  He still struggles financially, I don't think he's where he wants to be yet, but I have every confidence that he'll get there.

He's not married and doesn't have any kids, but I'm very glad about that.  Up until like a year ago my mom was still doing his laundry.  She says it was the only way she could get him to come to the house, but I think that's just shameful.  A grown man shouldn't have his mother doing his laundry - thankfully, I don't think she does it anymore.  He and his girlfriend have been together for almost three years but I don't think that marriage is on the horizon because she's talking about grad school which is just fine.  Even though he's 31, he's nowhere near ready for marriage.  We have epic phone conversations about just about anything, including marriage - mine, our parent's, his future marriage.  Additionally, I ask his advice about guys, he asks me about girls, we talk about our parents, our futures and I always love talking to him.

Culturally, we're quite different.  He got immersed in the alternative-house-trance-garage music scene pretty early on and that shaped a lot of his experiences.  In my opinion, that gave my brother a more European, global-type outlook on things, and he moved in various circles with ease.  Even though he's pretty shy he's really good at putting people at ease and being comfortable just about anywhere and kids love him!  He usually bonded with other guys over art and cars, which doesn't really know race.  Although, he has told me about times that he's been pulled over in the "Whiter" parts of town for DWB (Driving While Black.)  That hurts my feelings because that's still my baby brother.  But he has always been able to handle himself and has never gotten in serious trouble, thank God.  

My brother is a great guy and I'm lucky to be his family.  I know that one day soon, he'll get it all together and he's going to do great things.  And when that happens, I'll be right there cheering the loudest as his proud big sister.