Brother-Blessed

My brother Bensie is five years older than me. When we were little, we had so much fun playing together. Although he had his own set of "bigger" friends (to a 6-year-old, everything looks bigger), that didn't keep him from spending time with me. At the side of our house, there used to be two huge rocks. It was perfectly made into a kitchen nook, where we prepared food using clam shells as plates, black seeds as meat, and shredded leaves as vegetables (believe me, this kind of indigenous play is much more fun than what most kids have today).

When we got older, we got a bit more adventurous. We would take matches from Mom's kitchen and secretly take a frozen danggit from the fridge. We would grill it under a real fire on top of the small hill behind our house. The fish got cooked, but forgetting to take out its innards made it quite unpalatable!

My adolescent years were tough on me with growing pains and all. When you're a girl in love, you could do a ton of crazy things and feel a lot of confusing emotions. I indulged my emotional self by sulking without reason. Once, we were set to go to the beach on Bensie's birthday with my sister and my friends, when out of the blue I started crying. Suddenly I felt like I didn't want to go anymore. After several vain attempts to make me feel better, I thought they finally decided to leave me sulking there. But Bensie came back, embraced me while tears streamed down my face, and coaxed me to cheer up and go have fun with them. I did.

The day I was to be married, I arrived at the Cebu Grand Convention Center in my Victorian wedding gown, overwhelmed with all the people and by the new adventure ahead of me. It was the biggest day of my life! But there to greet me at the top of the stairs was my brother, waiting to give me one big hug before the ceremony started. His gesture comforted me, assured me that "Yes, you're doing the right thing," and it gave me the strength I needed at that very moment.

Bensie and I live far away from each other now -- he in Manila and I in Cebu. We get together at least once a year together with our spouses, kids, and extended families. But whenever I think about what my brother had done for me, tears still flow from my eyes, I had been truly brother-blessed.

Perhaps my son is five years older than my daughter because I want to let my children experience the kind of relationship I had with their uncle. I look at them play and Miguel is ever the big kuya watching over his little sister. When someone gives him something, he asks if Mia could have some, too. At birthday party games, he holds her hand so that other children don't hurt her in any way and makes sure she gets her own loot bag before he gets his. He gently speaks to her, reads her books, and gives her plenty of hugs and kisses every day. Hmmm...so far, so good.

Pro 10:22 GOD's blessing makes life rich; nothing we do can improve on God. The Message