One of the weirdest things about marrying into a large family was that I’ve been around for almost the entire life of my littlest brother-in-law. When Jon and I first started dating, and I met the family for the first time, his youngest brother was only a bit over a year old. While he knows most of Jon’s other siblings very well, because they all lived at home with him for years (and some still do), Jon wasn’t around much when he was growing up. So Jon, his own brother, isn’t really that much more of a presence in his life than I am.
For years, though, whenever I’d spend time with Jon’s family, Jon interacted with his brother more than I did. He grew up with a house always full of children, and though he avoided responsibility for them as much as possible, he’s at least more comfortable around them than I am. I only have one sibling, and he was born when I was four. So I’ve always been more uncomfortable around children, unsure of how to interact with them.
This Christmas, however, I found myself bonding with Jon’s youngest brother. In the past couple years I’ve actually been growing closer to most of his siblings and some extended family members, especially his sisters (though his big sister and I hit it off right away), and even his cousins. The youngest brother is still the one who eluded me, because I just didn’t know how to interact with him.
That brother is 11 now, and so we’re starting to find some common ground. It’s just silly things, really, but they were still neat. One of my sisters-in-law (this one an in-law herself, married to Jon’s older younger brother) and I watched “My Neighbor Totoro,” and the youngest brother joined in. We were watching the movie in Japanese with English subtitles, but he kept up with us.
Then on Christmas night, he and I watched the “Doctor Who” Christmas special together, by ourselves. Not only was it neat to have that bonding experience with him, it was really cool to watch the show with an 11-year-old, who interacts with it in a different way than I do.
I’m so awkward with kids; I don’t know that I’ll ever be that close with Jon’s brother. It’s been a daunting experience, interacting with Jon’s many siblings. He doesn’t think I should bother, but I’ve been part of the family for so long now (only technically four years, but I’ve been around for nearly 10), it just feels like something I ought to do. Slotting in among his sisters was easy, but this was trickier. I’m glad I’ve started to find a way to bond with his youngest brother.
*(The above image by imagerymajestic is from freedigitalphotos.net).