Happy Birthday Little Brother

Yesterday was my "little" brother's birthday. He is my only sibling and is 9-1/2 years younger than I am. I thought I'd share why there are only two of us and why he is so much younger than I am.

My parents were born and raised in Germany. My mom lived in East Germany and my dad lived in West Germany. They met at the confirmation of a mutual family friend. They married in 1956 when my mom was 18 years old. My dad really wanted to get her out of East Germany as quickly as possible so they didn't have a long courtship.

A little over a year later I was born. They lived in a very small village far from any hospital or even a doctor's office. I was to be born at home with a mid-wife in attendance. Well, I ended up being 3 weeks late. I weighed about 11 pounds (can you say huge!) My mom was in labor for a very long time. The mid-wife was very afraid we would both die. Finally, the mid-wife told my mom to give it one more try and push as hard as she could or the baby would probably not make it. My mom gave it one more heroic try and miraculously I was born. My mom had to stay in bed for an entire week because of blood loss and other complications.

A year later they immigrated to the United States with my dad's parents and brother. So now they were in a new country with a baby, didn't speak English and didn't have much money. But, this was the land of opportunity. Well, it wasn't as easy as they thought. They struggled to find jobs. Eventually, they found jobs, worked very hard and were able to make a decent life for us.

My dad had always wanted another child. My mom was having none of it. She never wanted to endure that experience again! Finally, almost 9 years after I was born, she agreed to try for another child. So, in 1967 I finally got my little brother. He was born in a hospital and everything went very well. I was the happiest little girl in the neighborhood. I had waited a very long time for a sibling, and I mothered him to death.

You can see that he is special to me. I'm sure he wasn't always thrilled to have a big sister mothering (or should I say smothering) him, but he didn't complain too much. So, Happy Birthday, Ron. I wish you many, many more!

A brother is a friend given by Nature. ~ Jean Baptiste Legouve