My Little Brother's Goodwill

Yesterday, my parents came down to visit and brought with them some of my brother's old shirts. I am, essentially, my little brother's personal goodwill. I have shirts from his fifth grade year that I still occasionally wear.

This shot is of one of my brother's old shirts (one of my new ones) and one of my current shirts. The white one is my brother's, the purple one is mine. The size difference is the focus. My little brother is now 19 years old, 5'11, and weighs enough to refuse to tell me how much he weighs. FYI, he's not 'fat', he works out. He drinks protein shakes and works out almost every day. This white shirt is an adult large and is too small for him. So now, I get to drown in it. But I don't mind. *grin* I'll wear it. It still shocks me how 'big' my little brother is. I remember when he was the shortest kid on the soccer team. And this was his senior year of high school. Now, as a sophomore at Marietta College, he's HUGE.

This shot reminded me of the assignment for this week and brings back one particular memory of which I am still proud.

When I was in fifth grade and my brother in second, we went to Latchkey (an afterschool program) together until our parents got home from work. One day in particular, we were out on the playground when my brother came rushing up to me.
"Help me!"
"With what?"
He cowered behind me as a larger boy came running up looking furious. I knew this older boy. He was older than me and stronger. Much stronger. I was the shy girl who barely spoke, let alone stood my ground. But this time, I knew I would have to. For my brother.
The bigger boy, Chuckie, stopped in front of me and glared.
I swallowed heavily.
"Get out of my way."
I couldn't believe I was doing this. Standing up to the toughest guy in school. "What do you mean?"
"Billy made fun of me." He was speaking of my brother
"So?"
He looked surprised. "So, move so I can punch him."
"No." I felt my knees threaten to give way. He was so angry, but I had to protect my little brother.
Chuckie glared. "Move."
I glared back. "No."
After another minute, he realized I wasn't going to back off. Just as he was about to storm off in anger, he glanced past me and the level of anger evident on his face increased.
I looked behind me. Of course, my brother was making faces at him.
Somehow, I got Chuckie to back off entirely. To this day, I am shocked that I managed to stand up to the biggest, toughest guy in school. Me, the quiet girl. I stood my ground to protect my brother.

I didn't regain this level of confidence again until about my junior year of college.







"Well, if that's how you're gonna act..."
"It is."
Alice stood up. "Fine. Then I'll see you around. Maybe."
He met her eyes for the last time. "Goodbye."
She stormed off towards the park entrance, back the way she had come.
His eyes dropped to the blanket and the still-full picnic basket. All that work, gone to waste. He would always care for her. But he was tired of the way she treated him. He had finally had enough. And her request that he wait for her? That had been the final straw. He sighed.