Yesterday, one of my brothers was in town for a conference, and we spent about 5 hours sitting in Washington Square Park chatting.
That might sound like a common experience, but it was a real treat for me.
He lives in Houston, and he's the oldest of my three brothers. He's the first and I'm the last, and there's a 7-year age gap. Right now, our age difference doesn't matter, much but when we were kids, it certainly did. By the time I was 5 or 6, he was already in middle school, and he was in high school (and busy with many things) by the time I was only 7. We went away to college when I was 11, and he moved away when I was 15. So, while he was always a presence in my life, he wasn't often physically present.
He was always interested in me, even when I was little, and he would go out of his way to do things with me, one on one. He'd take me out to lunch, at one point when I was 10 or 11 he took me to a Neil Young concert (and my ears are still ringing), and things like that. But he was only around from time to time when he was in college, and he "left home" when I was 15, and in the ensuing 25 years, I've only seen him from time to time, typically at family gatherings back in Chicago. And even then, we've never had the chance to really talk, one on one.
So yesterday was a wonderful experience. While he has always seemed to see himself as my "protector" or "guardian," he knows I'm now in my 40s and our roles have changed. Still, being able to talk about things as peers and adults was so truly wonderful There was a lot to discuss, and if didn't have to leave at 6:00 to be back to his conference, we likely would have chatted for several more hours.