Brother Ray

People come into our lives many different ways.  We are connected by chance, by choice, and by birth.  It is by birth that I met my "brother" Ray. 

Ray is six years and three days older than I.  He probably waited anxiously for his older sister to bring home a new baby and make him an uncle.  I guess I was his birthday present.  For years we shared birthday celebrations and birthday cake.  Once I complained and they baked two cakes.  Ray never seem to mind how we celebrated our birthdays and as we grew up didn't mind having his younger "sister" to tag along.

Ray taught me how to ride a bicycle; to swim; to dance; and to sing.  (He was an excellent pianist and organized a group of us young teens to sing specials in church.) He also told me about Santa Claus to include the details about how he had helped wrap the presents.  That little bit of information about Santa could have waited for a couple of more years.

In the summer we spent many days at Russell Lake with friends and cousins.  I was always with him. I loved the idea he could drive and didn't mind having me tag along.  Once my cousin Susan and I rode to town with him in his 1954 Ford.  Susan and I waited in the hot car, with windows down, while Ray ran into the post office.  A nice newer model car pulled up beside us.  There was a young girl, much like ourselves, sitting with the windows up.  We knew she had air conditioning in her new car.  Not to be out done by our parking space neighbor, Susan and I rolled up our windows.  We sat there, with sweat rolling down our faces, to the point we could barely breathe.  Wait, you are getting ahead of me.

Ray came out of the post office.  He opened the door and asked if we were crazy.  Several factors came into play:  1) the car was not running; therefore, the air conditioner could not run; and 2) Ray's 1954 Ford did NOT have air conditioning.  Susan and I were sitting in a hot car, in 90 degree weather, with the windows rolled up.  It took a long time to live this little episode down, and he told everyone about our adventure with(out) air conditioning.

I have so many wonderful memories of my time with Ray.  He carried me to church. He helped me with homework when I didn't want to do it.  He encouraged me in my pursuit of a higher education. He listened to my pain when I needed an ear, and he offered gentle advice when I needed it the most. 

The day he married, I was maid of honor and Margaret's brother was best man.  I cried after the wedding when no one could see.  I felt I had lost him forever; however, he never let that happen. 

Ray was drafted in the army and while he was in Officer Training School in Columbus, I rode a bus to stay with Margaret for a weekend.  I was his sister.  When his daughter was born, I felt I was an aunt.  It was a wonderful experience having an older "brother."

Years later, when Barry and I got married, Ray escorted me down the isle. We had come full circle.  I have so many heartfelt and funny stories about growing up in our little part of the world.  I think, like many younger siblings, I embarrassed him many times, but he never stopped loving me nor me him.

As I continue to write my blog, I will share more stories about my "brother" Ray.  There was the time that Susan and I went cruising with her brother Tom and Ray.  That day they got so mad at us for flirting with boys and drove us back home.  It wasn't the flirting that made them so angry; it was the fact the boys starting following us in their car (we continued to encourage them by waving from the backseat).  When Ray and Tom got out of the car, they were so mad they took a short cut and jumped a bush to tell on us.  My mom said later she knew by the way they jumped the bush, they were mad at something we had done.  That anger didn't last any longer than it took for them to tell on us.  We loved them for that short lived temper.

God brings people we need into our lives, and they teach us lessons.  Some lessons are just too hard and we long to forget them; however, some folks are God's gift to us.  Ray was my gift.

It is me again, Lord, thanking you for the people who enter our lives by chance, by choice, and especially by birth.

A little Georgia Wisdom:  Never forget those who are responsible for caring, loving, and shaping the person you become.