Editor's Column
by Alyssa Brown
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Bumper Cars, Chow Mein Make the Best Date
Stephen, or Stub, as he's affectionately known, will be 11 on Feb. 27, and I often think about how much quieter and duller my life would be without him.
His non-stop chatter and constant motion can be exhausting, but his enthusiasm for life is contagious.
We spend hours together when I go home, hiking or watching the ants in our backyard or poring over National Geographics. Spending time with him keeps me in touch with that childlike wonder we so often lose as school and jobs crowd in and life becomes an unending push for accomplishment.
I don't mean to imply that Stephen isn't a hard worker. He can be, and he often works the hardest for things that might seem unimportant. He spent months saving his allowance and doing extra chores so he could treat me to a "day out." He hid away every penny he got his hands on, not buying candy or even the Lego set he'd been wanting for months.
Mom offered to sponsor our date, but he said no. He wanted to pay. He understands, however unconsciously, that the worth of the gift is not so much in its value but in the investment of the giver.
Once he had saved the $21 he decided we would need for all the fun surprises he had planned for me, he called me at school every day to talk about "our fun day." He was eager to spend his money on me. I thought big sisters were supposed to be the bane of a little brother's existence, but apparently no one had told him.
When the magical day came, I was home for the weekend and looking forward to sleeping off my homework hangover. I woke up to find him sitting at the foot of my bed.
"It's 7 o'clock," I said. "Why aren't you in bed?" He rarely shows his face before 10 a.m. on weekends.
He gave a dimpled grin and said, "It's the day. Are you ready to go?"
I didn't get to sleep in that Saturday. We drove to Gateway, the mall a mile from our house. First, we shot animated bad guys with plastic guns at Tilt, one of my favorite mindless pastimes. For lunch, we shared a plate of some sort of Chinese noodles he purchased with a bag full of dimes and quarters. If "no food play" wasn't so well drilled into me, I might have stuck a couple up my nose, too.
The best part was the bumper cars. I was hesitant to ride at first, but once Stephen convinced me to get on, I didn't want to get off. What is so fun about speeding around and crashing into things I cannot say, but I laughed so hard I could barely breathe.
As we climbed out of the cars, Stephen gave me a long, tight hug. "Thank you so much, Alyssa," he said. "I love you."
What struck me was not that my brother was hugging me in the middle of the mall. I was amazed he was thanking me for letting him blow months worth of hard-earned money on me and, on top of that, he was having just as much fun as I was. How odd! Wonderful, but odd. Or maybe it wasn't. Maybe he was filled with Christlike love and enthusiasm, and the attitude of "me first" I'm used to seeing and finding so often in myself is what I should find strange.
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