Oh Brother
Without me being me, maybe there would be no you. At least that's what I've thought, sometimes. It's not as narcissistic as it sounds. I've just been told that I was the good baby - the smiling and quiet and sleeping one. A darling. A dear. THE PERFECT CHILD. Then you arrived 2 years after my entrance, and all the tales I've been privy to reveal the edges of cliffs to which you drove our progenitors. Screaming and collicky, you pushed the caregivers to the edge. Good thing the ma and paternal love arm wrestled your big bald-headed baby riot and won.It's fortunate you had me as a predecessor to trick them into thinking you'd be as easy as me. You may thank me for the gift of life anytime, dear brother.
But then that all changed. Around the middle of my second decade the world reversed. Turned on it's ear and it's ass it did indeed. You ceased to be difficult and I ceased to be easy. It's not that you're 'simple' in the Corky kind of way. Exactly the opposite, actually. Your pragmatism, your ability to hone in on a goal and achieve it, your ability to see the pros and cons so clearly, so black and white, so damn immediately. No wishy washiness no emotional muck no confliction or indecision - no sir, not you.
And then it all changed again. It changed on the phone the other evening when you asked about things and how they are and how all of this has felt. It's when I realized that we are not opposites or even really that contrary. It's when I realized that we're just both different cuts of steak that have different proportions of fat and meat and bone and maybe one of us likes to be cooked on the grill and the other likes the broiler or one likes to be marinated in teriyaki and one likes a nice spiced herb rub. We're really both just raw cow cut from the same, well - cow.
Without you being you, there would be a me but I would be missing a big part of myself. I'd be missing a you.
posted by gracegow @ 7:24 PM
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