Oh, Sibling Day. This was the first year that, through the power of
Facebook, I discovered it existed, and it still passed before I knew
when it was. It was yesterday. Do card companies make cards for this
holiday? Answer unknown. According to the ever-helpful Wikipedia it is about 15 years old, and though not a federal holiday like Mother's Day, has been embraced by 39 states. Go marketing!
Though I'm not a great observer of nouveau holidays (I barely manage the traditional ones), I do
really appreciate my siblings. My full siblings (I also have two half
siblings) are my connection to my parents, my childhood and my memories
of where I'm from. And because I won't ever have biological children of
my own, my sister's children are the closest thing to my genetic
legacy.
I feel particularly lucky that, at this juncture, we all
live in the same city, even though that city is Los Angeles where it's
easy to let two to six months go by without someone in person. My
sister tries to combat this with a standing dinner invite to her
family's house twice a month. Even with typical conflicts we usually
manage to gather other once a month, hang out, see how much taller her
kids have gotten.
About a month ago I also had a really special
experience hanging out with my brother (and believe me, I would not use
"special" in this way if it weren't the most accurate term I could think
of). I hit him up to help me record some stuff I'd written. I was
going to read it myself, but after I tried it, it seemed better if the
voice was male, so he did the reading as well as composing background
music and producing the audio.
I seldom get to work my brother in
the studio, but I love to, because it is the best time to see him deeply
focused and, I think, happy. I believe that being a musician and
storyteller is his truest nature. (When he was only two or three, he
used to sing himself to sleep at night with long narrative songs about
characters from TV shows he watched. I can remember listening, and even
at the age of seven or eight noticing how music just poured from him.)
Though
our training is really different, and our personalities are
different, my brother--my sibling--is the closest thing I could have
to a male mirror of myself. We have a similar sense of humor, which
became clear as we edited the piece. We also have a similar cadence and
rhythm to our speech, so hearing him read my work felt oddly familiar.
I
had brought in two poems and one piece of prose. At the end of our
session, I felt like only one of the pieces worked--but I was really
happy with that one piece. I would post it here, but we submitted it
for a contest, so I'll wait until they announce the winners first (even
though I'm pretty sure it would be safe to do so. I'm fond of it, but
it's a pretty beginner-level poem, so I don't think we are in big danger
of winning). The whole experience made me think of how I'd like to
collaborate with him more in the future.
In honor of that fact, his website
is the first to be added to my "links I like." Soon to be followed by
many more, but for tonight, because it's late--just my sibling's. Happy
Siblings Day!
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