So much has been happening in the last
month that is worth telling you about I don’t even know where to begin. So far, this has been one of the best years I
have experienced in a very long time. A
lot of that has stemmed from my setting an intention last January to accomplish
a number of fairly significant goals in my life with, as my family calls it, P
& V*. And by best, I mean, real,
authentic, heartfelt, loving, joyous moments that seemed to be strung together
like an endless string of bright fairy lights!
What radiance! So when I tried to
zero in on what to write about today, I landed on one tiny moment, that
encapsulates all of those adjectives – a couple of hours spent with my brother
Paul… affectionately known as Polliwog.
I may be a tad(pole) biased – (this pun’s
for you W) – but I have always thought my brother is the cutest, funniest,
rambunctious, hard-working, thoughtful, and loving guy on the planet. He is a very handsome man, now in his early
fifties, can imitate Jim Carrey perfectly (especially his role as The Grinch),
has been up to mischief for as along as I can remember, works as a shop teacher
(his students adore him), owns a beautiful farm on the river, constantly puts
others’ needs before his own, and is passionate about many, many things.
I’m currently spending several weeks in
Ontario and have had the luxury of spending more quality time with my Mom and
siblings. Last Saturday, one of my
sisters and I went to Polliwog’s farm to help him chainsaw and stack firewood
to get ready for what is promising to be another Arctic-vortex-like winter
here. He dressed us both in coveralls,
toques, work mitts, and boots so we could withstand the blustering wind that
accompanied our efforts. He was
hysterically funny, and the two hours went by in a flash. We laughed our guts out at his
impersonations, felt good about the physical exercise, and just really enjoyed
being with him. We had him all to
ourselves for those two hours. There’s
never a dull moment with that man. It
was a great time. After we stacked the
last piece of winter fuel, we headed to another barn where he proudly showed us
his latest acquisition. One of his
passions is “collecting” things that other people have tossed aside as
useless. He loves to go to the nearby
steel junkyard, and pick through the rejects for what he considers to be future treasures. His latest score was the
container portion of a wheelbarrow. (I
guess you’d call that the barrow?) As I
could see he had plenty already, I asked him why he was so excited. He said that it was a very good one
(construction grade), worth quite a bit of money, and that he could take it to
his shop class and one of his students would learn how to fabricate the wheel
housing and bring the thing back to life.
I could understand all that but still wondered what he would do with it
once it was all finished. I mean, how
many wheelbarrows does one man need?
And then he told me that one of his former
students had just purchased her first home.
He knew it was a stretch for her so he was putting together a
housewarming present for her. He figured
she’d probably need a lawn mower, a wheelbarrow, tools, etc. and so he was
putting together a potpourri of useful things to celebrate her big step in life
– all repurposed from items out of his collection. I was so touched by the
enormity of his gesture and I know that this is just one of hundreds of
wonderful gifts he has given to those who he feels could use a little help. It
occurred to me that he epitomized my father who never ceased to find ways to be
of service to others.
I hope to spend more time with him while I
am here. I am thinking tomorrow might be
the day we attempt to put a new roof on the woodshed. Anything for my brother.
With so much love for my amazing family,
Buns.
P.S.
I am quite sure that the rest of the year will continue to yield amazing
experiences and developments… stay tuned!
And, as always, to underscore my post, a
song about brothers… a little different perspective from what I’ve just written
about, but touching in light of events in Ottawa this week.
*piss & vinegar
