What can I say? Well, my brother’s Matt and Ben have always been there. Well Matt has, Ben came a few years later and stole the show but you know that’s what babies do!
I was born in 1985, Matt was born a few years before, Ben was born in 1991. I remember it vividly, Edward Scissorhands had come out, and I was hiding behind the sofa from what I now know to be Johnny Depp. To a 5-year-old boy that was some seriously scary stuff!
Me and Matt I remember had some crazy elephant rocking horse as well, and my mum and dad had that awful 1980’s brown sofa’s, you know the ones that had the metal bits holding on the arms and you would bash your head on! Don’t get me started on the décor! Bloody hell that carpet! Yuck!
I would do that thing I do by painting a picture in your mind but that probably isn’t the best thing to do right now as that carpet would make you puke!
So, Keri baby sat me and Matt, while my mum and dad went off to have the one we now know as Benjamin. Ben was a cute as hell baby! A bit like my nephew Noah, beautiful as a child.
Ben grew up though! He grew up an we found out that Ben had autism. This wasn’t exactly an issue that’s the only Ben we have ever known. That caused a lot of stress and worry for my family and parents though.
Matt on the other hand, older brother, what can I say other than what an amazing career, life and memories he has made! An absolute legend and a great guy all round!
Me and Matt hated each other as kids! Matt was a naughty kid! I wasn’t! I was good as gold as a child, caring, loving and a good kid. I believe that Matt once thought the cat was wet and tried to tumble dry it, also blew up a science kit and yeah, an intriguing kid!
I unfortunately had a hypoxic brain injury when I was 13, my world changed then. Both my brothers had to witness me suffocate and pretty much die in my mother’s arms. I had an allergic reaction to something and suffocated, I remember saying to my dad that I was going to die before it happened.
When I came around one of the first things I wanted to do was have a wee, weird but true, but yeah, I was in Sofia in Bulgaria at the time.
That’s when roles swapped for me and Matt, Matt became more of the quieter one and I became a little shit as people would put it. I had to re-learn things and my outlook on life drastically changed after that event.
Anyways that’s for another time, come to when I got to a drinking age and I was able to go out and get drunk, me and Matt always hung around! We would both go get wasted! Then Matt had to go get famous! He plays drums for The Joy Formidable. The guys played to a sold-out Madison Square Garden! Saying that there are some perks like free festival tickets and meeting numerous famous peeps!
So, Matt fecked off! Bring in Ben! He hit that magical drinking age and we tore up the town! We loved it! We because proper silly bugger much to my mum and dads dismay!
There were nights where we bought tons of people back to my parents and my parents would be like anyone want a cuppa! Brilliant family! Load of love for everyone!
I guess what I am trying to say is that my best friends in life have always been my brothers, no matter how far we are apart we know we can rely on each other for anything. That kind of unconditional love is hard to find.
I will love them with all my heart till the day I die.
Thank you so much for sharing all that!! Really interesting read!! I had to laugh me @rse off when i read it, because your family sounds similar to mine… even to the asperger’s (not fully autistic) baby boy born in 1992 and his stealing the show, everyone else was jealous! And my oldest boy kicking a cop trying to escape a wild party when he was 16 (he was born in 1985)… they sent him to a juvenile bad-boys-in-brutal-bondage camp way up in the mountains (on my dime) where he stayed for two full years and reformed!! He is now doing “deep learning” for Artificial Intelligence at an SF start up!!! Doing great!!!
Glad to see you are sharing a little something about your life and what has made “you” the person you are…. this does you good and is fun for me at least! Love it!
This was a beautifully put story about the love you have for your brothers, lovely!!