While I would pay to see it, I don’t suppose that my brother was prancing around the house this morning in his undies blasting “Sweet Sixteen” by Hilary Duff.
As the oldest sister, and the only one with a blog, I felt it was my duty to commemorate this monumental occasion of birthday #16 for my dear baby bro. Also, because I think that he is so great, I want to share some pieces of my brother with all of you.
Clarence is the baby of the family and the only boy. He has three older sisters. I don’t know what could be so bad about that! 😉 I was 11 when Clarence was born and I remember praying to God that he was boy because I was sick of my sisters. *Sorry girls, I was ready for a change.* So, my prayers were answered….
Clarence was the Bennett County Millennium Baby sixteen years ago… ( don’t worry folks, he is the only one getting older) I remember he was so beautiful. He had dark hair and these eyes that were so bright when he was just a teeny baby. We, his sisters, loved him instantly. I take that back… Carli wanted nothing to do with him for a very long time. But for the most part, he was our little doll baby. And then… he started to show some personality…
- When he started to talk, the answer to any question was “no”. And not just any “no”, but the kind where his face would scrunch up and his eyes would narrow and it was almost a growl. No meant yes, and no meant no and good luck trying to figure out which is which because if you got it wrong… he would growl louder and his little fists would clench up. It really was the cutest thing. BUT DO NOT LAUGH at the funny baby! It would make his blood boil.
- When any of us sisters would push him over the edge, which I admit, was sometimes kind of fun to do (see the first point) he would scowl at us and growl “I’m not your brother anymore.” Poor baby, the only thing that made picking on you that much fun was the fact that you are indeed our brother forever and there is nothing you can do about it.
Ok, so this scowling and growling thing… Imagine this face! And then try not to laugh….almost impossible.
- Sometimes he would play this game called “Catch the Mouse”. Basically he would just zip his little hands all other your face, arms, and hands while saying “Catch the mouse! Catch the mouse!” I don’t know where or how it started but we still do it sometimes for a giggle.
- When he was ‘sippy cup age’, as soon as he was done with this cup, no matter where we were, (public, church, home, store) he would just zing his cup as hard and fast and as far as he could. “I’m sure there are still milk platters on his ceiling from when he would do that in his crib.”- Mom. Also, you didn’t want to intercept one of those with your face. No one should ever leave church with a black eye, but I know I did at least once.
- Whenever my mom and I or my sisters and I are talking on the phone or together somewhere and we hear a screaming kid, we say “Clarence”. And we all laugh because know what that means and we send our silent sympathies to that parent, even though we don’t know them.
- I remember so clearly the time that mom took us out to the hayfield to take a Christmas card picture. The sun was shining but it was also November, so it was cold and windy. I think we all thought we should be able to get out of the car, snap about 10 pictures, get back in the car and go home. About 790 pictures later we all want to kill Clarence. But we did end up with ONE picture we could use.
Still not perfect but 791 pictures would have ended in blood. - When we would go to the grocery store, we were usually allowed to get ONE thing. It took Clarence a long time to figure out that he had to let the cashier scan the item. It was fight every time for awhile. After they would scan it though, he wanted it in his OWN sack. I think that every worker in the grocery store eventually figured out that the whole world would remain more peaceful if they played along with that game.
- He went through this phase where the ONLY things he was interested in eating were ramen noodles, corn dogs, and pizza. In fact, one year he asked for a pizza and corn dog decorated cake for this birthday. It happened.
- A few years ago, Megan and I were teasing him about cutting his fingernails or else we were going to paint them. He didn’t cut them. We painted ONE fingernail BRIGHT PINK. We feared for our life that day. I remember sitting in the suburban on our way to grandma’s house and Megan and I were laughing about something that didn’t have anything to do with the fingernail and Clarence flew over the back seat and screamed “How would you like it if I punched you in the face right now?!?!” … Dad had to stop and readjust all of us…
I have a few more stories to tell, but for the sake of the length of this page I am going to attempt to wrap this up.
We can tease that Clarence was the family “oops baby”, but he isn’t. There is no such thing. God knew exactly what he was doing when he gifted us with Clarence. He is here to make us laugh, stretch and grow us, and challenge us. In only 16 years, Clarence has grown to be many years ahead of his time. He understands kindness and friendship. He has rebuilt a classic car independently,he excels academically, and strives to stay involved among his peers. We are proud of him.
I am proud of him. Even though I want to kick him in the knee caps sometimes, there isn’t anyone I look forward to seeing at home more than him. The tackle hugs that I get every time are priceless, even though they hurt sometimes.
I was the first girl he ever wanted to marry and sometimes he would accidentally call me mom. He will always be my baby brother.
Happy 16th Birthday, Clarence!
Story Time 