Faith Farmer

In honor of National Sibling Day:

Things that come to mind when I think about my bother, John.

1. When John was still a toddler and I was probably about 5, we were playing "tackle" with my dad. The kind of play my mom doesn't like to watch. At one point I sat on John and knocked the breath out of him. He passed out. I thought I killed him. Actually, we all did. Pretty traumatic for a 5 year old. Turns out, he lived....

2. When John was little, he always had to be dressed in whatever uniform or outfit coincided with what he was watching on TV. Example: watching football--wearing helmet and holding ball, watching hockey--holding a golf club and maybe wearing roller skates?, watching bull riding--wearing wranglers and cowboy hat. Cute! Now when my son does this, I always think of John.

3. When Michael Jordan was all the rage, John decided he needed this really awesome red and black "Air" Jordan warm-up suit. I remember it cost $100 at Foot Locker in the Golden Triangle Mall. He must have been 7 or so and totally saved up enough money to purchase that suit and then proceeded to wear it everyday--seriously--for about a year.

4. Whenever we went on trips it would of course be a road trip in our wood veneer and navy station wagon. Oh yeah. John and I would sit in the back seat and fight until dad would just start swinging his open hand in the backseat, hitting whomever was unfortunate enough to be in the way. No, this did not scar us in any way, physically or emotionally. We deserved it.

5. Also, whenever we were in the car we would sing along to the radio. John would take the male vocalist songs and I the female. One of our favorite cassettes (yes cassette) was an early Garth Brooks with the song Much TooYoung (To Feel this D*** Old.) Well, of course the "D" word was not acceptable for use in our household so when John would sing this song, he would insert the word "blank" into the "D" word slot. Go on, try singing it that way to yourself....Awesomeness.

6. How can I put this? John liked to, um, stretch the truth a bit as a youngster. He would refer to it as "just joking". Examples of these "jokes" include telling a teacher that our family would be attending the Super Bowl and that our Grandfather was shot down in his fighter jet during WWII.

7. When we lived on a farm in Decatur, our parents would tell us to go outside and get some exercise. So we would ride around the pasture in our golf cart. Key word-RIDE. Truly--we believed this to be exercise. Again, awesomeness.

8. I think about when John hurt his knee during his junior year of football. Although he suffered a great deal, it provided an invaluable life lesson for our family about what is really important. Not sports. *gasp* Even though John didn't get to play football the rest of that year and it probably limited his physical ability from then on, I think if you asked him, given the opportunity, he would not change what happened because it totally shaped who he is today.

9. We always teased John about "all his girlfriends" but Mom and I knew that when he found the right girl we would all know it--that things would move quickly. We were right on. From the time John and Alicia went on their first date to the time they were engaged was about 3 months, if I'm not mistaken, and then they were married about 8 months after that. God truly blessed John and our entire family when He brought Alicia into our lives. She embodies the Fruit of the Spirit in a way that I have never seen and she puts up with John so that is a real plus... ;)

10. John and I became parents within about 6 weeks of each other. It has been such fun watching our boys learn and grow together. My little brother has taught me much about biblical parenting and for that I am so very grateful.

I have been richly blessed through the relationship that I have with my brother. I can't wait to make the memories that will fill up this post 20 years from now. I love you, "Uncky Johnny."