My little brother turned 23 today (they grow up so fast…). It’s been, let’s see…about 3 years since I last saw him; a little over a year since I talked to him. I heard he got married. Yup. About a year and a half ago. I hope he and H. are doing alright. I can’t say I’ve ever been married, but I think I have a pretty good idea what married life is like (I’ve been with my own special lady for around 4 years). Yeah, buddy, I hope things are going good. I wonder if they’re pregnant yet. I’ve never been a big fan of that saying: “they’re pregnant.” I’ve never seen a pregnant man before, and certainly not one that shares the burden of a common womb with his lady, but in any case…
I heard they were up visiting my folks a few weeks ago. They live down in Ecuador as missionaries and only visit the States rarely, or so I hear. I heard Z. had lost a lot of weight. Back when I knew him he had been working out like crazy and he was a large, strong, man, to say the least. I guess there aren’t a lot of fully equipped gyms in rural Ecuador to choose from. I’m sure both of those guys look good, though; Healthy, you know? At least I hope so.
I wonder how their finances are. I don’t think they work down there. They come up here and do odd jobs and stuff to save up for awhile and then head back down again. You’d be amazed how long you can live on a few thousand American dollars down there. Actually, you probably have a pretty good idea. I wonder what their house looks like. Do they have a house? An apartment, probably. Hopefully it’s their own apartment though, and they don’t have to shack up with other couples or live in a partitioned off section of the basement of some wealthy landowner sympathetic to The Cause. I hope they have somewhere to hang their pictures and a place to sit and quietly sip their morning coffees together. I always liked H; Z., too.
I wonder what they see when they look out the window. I hope it’s mountains and not another wall or a street. I’ve heard it’s beautiful down there. I can’t say I’d love to visit (I’d probably book a vacation to some other less…exotic destination) but what I would really love is to look at some pictures. A whole bunch of pictures of their house or apartment or whatever and the mountains or even the streets and walls that they see out their windows. Even just the walls.
Maybe they have a dog. I know I would want a dog if I lived in Ecuador. Now, that’s probably just my stereotypical mind creeping in, but I would want the dog for protection from…I don’t know…bears, maybe? Elephants? I don’t know. Probably the worst they have are rats and bugs and stuff. Who knows? I’d still want a dog, for companionship at any rate. They say that petting a dog or cat is one of the top stress releasers to be found around the house. I don’t know what other stress relievers were involved in the study, but I wonder if they considered including alcohol.
I wonder if Z. drinks. He always seemed to have a problem with it (not with his drinking, I mean he was troubled by other’s drinking). Granted, we were underage back when I knew him and he was straight as an arrow, but even when older people would drink it still seemed to bother him. I remember a couple of years ago, back when he was still dating H., he called me up because he and H. had gone out to eat with a bunch of people and H. (who is a few years older than Z.) had partaken of the fruit of the vine and sort of, how do you say?...made an ass of herself. Hey, it happens. I kind of hope he drinks. I’d love to buy him a beer someday.
They probably don’t have health insurance. I don’t know, though. That seems like it would be one of the top priorities down there. You may not have enough to buy yourself a car, but you’ll sure as hell save up for that insurance premium. Sorry, it’s just the stereotypes surfacing again. I do hope they are both healthy, though.
Anyway, I miss the little guy (I hope he doesn’t know I call him ‘little.’ He’s about 6 inches taller than me…). I hope he’s doing ok. H., too. I wonder about him and his life and I think about him more than he’ll know.