What can be said about a brother’s love and admiration…
A whole lot. My twenty-year-old son joined the Navy in April, and has ambitions of being a Navy SEAL. Well, my eight-year-old son joined right along with him, metaphorically speaking.
Anything his big brother was doing, or had ever done, he wanted to emulate. This can be a good thing, but this can also be a not-so-good thing.
My little boy had his head sheared, like an enlisted sailor – GOOD THING. (Hair was hanging into his face too much).
My little boy puts on his military clothes and crawls around in the bushes, pretending he is on a mission – COULD BE A GOOD THING, EXCEPT FOR THE POISON OAK THAT HE CONTINUES TO ROLL IN, RESULTING IN HORRIBLE OUTBREAKS. (I guess this is just a testament to his determination.)
My little boy dressed as a SEAL for Halloween, complete with face camouflage – GOOD THING. (The costume was pretty cheap).
My little boy ordered a balaclava mask from the Navy Seal store, and spent his own money – GOOD THING. (If the temperature ever gets cold enough to wear it).
My little boy wants to get in trouble at school, just like his big brother did years ago – VERY BAD THING.
My little boy wants to listen to all the heavy metal bands that his brother listened to when he was at home – NOT SO GOOD THING, AND FRUSTRATING HAVING TO CONSTANTLY TELL HIM THE LYRICS AREN’T FOR HIM. (Slipknot – you are now on my BAD list!)
My little boy also likes to try to collect pictures of scantily clad women – because his brother used to. He even printed pictures of women in bikinis to send to his brother – NOT A GOOD THING. (At least not right now).
Anything that was good enough for his brother is good enough for him – that’s my little boy’s motto.
And now that his brother is home for the holidays, my little boy isn’t wasting any time in making himself a carbon copy of his big brother. When we go out to eat, he insists on drinking water, like his brother, and eating the very same meal that his brother eats. And I have to hand it to him – he’s put away more food in the last few days than he has in the last month.
I told my Navy boy he had to make a good example for his little brother – my little boy’s future is apparently riding on it. And my Navy boy insisted that he was – what better example to make than offering himself to protect his country.
I can’t argue with that.
