So yesterday it was all football all day. And because it's Sunday morning and I am thus filled with charity, I won't point out that BYU won and Utah lost. Besides which that's not the point.
The point is this--while my family and I were sitting together at the game in Provo, my brother's son, Matthew, got put into the game which is a big deal because he's worked like a maniac for years down there on the practice field in Utah county, but hasn't played. Anyway! He went in for a play in the fourth quarter and we all went NUTS and cheered and wept and rent our clothing in a positive, joyful way and so forth.
As soon as the play was over, however, he trotted off the field. Well, in my head I'm going crap. Bleh. That's it. Dude won't see any more action. Meanwhile my brother, Matthew's father, is all THIS IS GREAT! THE COACHES ARE GONNA BE RUNNING HIM ON AND OFF THE FIELD!
I turned to my dad at that point and said this is and always has been the crucial difference between my brother and me. I generally figure things will turn out badly and that my heart's gonna get broken in the process. And also that I'll go home and discover that someone has taken the last Dr. Pepper from the fridge. My brother, on the other hand, checks out the landscape and sees unlimited possibilities for happiness. And yet we share the same genes and experienced virtually the same childhood.
Which brings me to why I write--I write because people, especially in the context of families, are CRAZY. But also endlessly interesting.
P.S. My nephew played the rest of the game. See what the Power of Positive Thinking can do? Go, Matthew!
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4 comments:
This is the best post ever!!I was thinking of you all day yesterday and how much joy must have been felt during that shellacking! And also the shellacking the team up north got. Oh squee! Oh happy day!
I didn't get to see it, but listened to it. Can't wait til next year when I can see more games.
Yay for Matthew and the joyous renting of clothes!
Love this--and also I hear you. That belief that, somehow, the last Dr. Pepper will be gone, especially that.
Is it an oldest kid thing? just out of curiosity?
anyway, I was glad to see the BYU win, so very glad. Not *happy*, exactly, about the other loss . . . but I did, privately, predict it.
Endlessly crazy and possible. Best definition for brothers, families, relationships. This is a great story. I tend to be a little fatalistic, too - to be pretty certain how badly things will end. But when it turns out I'm right, it softens the blow a little.
Wow. Pathetic use of the justification gene (but I come by it naturally).
I cannot believe that we had almost the same day! I am thrilled for your nephew! Thrilled for your brother, and I understand how you feel too.
This is life, we work so hard and it may or may not pay off in the way we think it will. But it will pay off.
He played! Isn't that amazing! I have watched my son's four plays over and over. Isn't it amazing?
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