A post for my Brother

Today is my brother's birthday - and the only hug I can give him is a telephonic one. Well that and this electronic one:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE BROTHER!!

My family is spread across the globe - the UK, Malaysia and the US; which is awesome for holiday destinations, but sucks for the big stuff... especially when there are nephews involved (I can't say nieces, as there are none yet!!)

My brother and I are close, and to be on the other side of the world from each other is really hard for us. And having children made us both realise just how hard being apart is:

• We weren't there for the birth of each other's first child.
• We don't get to see the children's milestones.
• We don't get to share a bottle of wine for our birthdays.
• Most Christmases are spent apart.

The last time I had my whole family together in the one spot (including step family and in-laws) was at our wedding. Before that.... jeez, I can't even remember; it was probably before my parents got divorced, so over 12 years ago. Too long.

The older I get, the more I realise the importance of family; and having a child has certainly helped with the realisation J

I relish having my mum and step-dad only 15-minutes away, my in-laws are literally just down the road from us, and my step-siblings are a 30-minute drive away; I am very lucky to have a fantastic family support network so close by.

For me, the hardest part of living so far apart from my brother is that my Little Monster misses out on growing up with one of his cousins. And although that make me sad, he is lucky enough to have five other cousins to play with close by... so it's not all bad!  J

The flip side of all this global distances malarkey, is that when the Boys are old enough there will be alternate holidays between countries (helloooo holidays!!)

The Little Monster will stay with my brother and sister-in-law for a couple of weeks whilst Husband and I swan around the European countryside.

Then we will have my nephew for a couple of weeks whilst his parents have a well deserved break; may I suggest the wine region, Brother? J

Which all sounds good in theory - I'm looking forward to putting it into practise!

So this post is for you LB... Happy Birthday!! BS xx

 

  

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