Brotherhood

While we treasured the four days we had at home with The RM (that's right - he is now The RM), the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML and I were looking forward to his return to the Zion Curtain. Wait, what? you say incredulously. He'd only been home four days and you're already jonesing to see him leave again? #parentsoftheyear

Here's the thing: he had to leave. For him, school started this past Monday. Hanging around Connecticutistan was not an option. While we were sad that he was leaving so soon A) we were going with him and 2) we'd engineered a pretty great surprise for him at the Salt Lake City Airport and we were pretty excited to see that go down.

The RM is our lone son. He has two amazing older sisters but becuase of my inability to pass on the appropriate chromosome (if I'm remembering my high school biology class correctly), he has no brothers. Over the years, he has formed a brotherhood of friends. Two of those friends, from our days in Chicago, have become his brothers. These three met in the summer of 2006 and an instant and what has become an unbreakable bond, a brotherhood, was formed. They've covered for one another. They've cared for one another, including explaining a savage broken arm to an unsuspecting parent (think Brian Regan's great sketch about using leaves to repair a broken arm). They've challenged each other to be the best that they can be. From their earliest days, they talked about rooming together after their missions. So when it came together that they'd be rooming together this fall, we were pretty excited. 

There was the small matter that because of moves and missions, they'd not seen each other in four and three years respectively, until this past Sunday. We asked Grant and Scott to surprise The RM at the airport. It was, in a word, sweet. As we descended the escalator into Baggage Claim, the boys started howling and The RM immediately recognized the voices of his brothers. He turned around and looked at us in a state of shock and then headed down into a massive abraso from them. They were finally reunited. It was pretty awesome. If you look at the picture closely, you can see their smiles through the back of their heads. It was an honor to watch these three together again. It will be a greater honor to watch what these three do next.

Brotherhood is not just a Bible word. Out of comradeship can come and will come the happy life for all. ~ Heywood Broun