Maybe its cause Im getting older and realizing that my siblings are getting older as well and therefore the convenience of living with them is no longer there so you only talk if you make the effort. Maybe its the idea that I'm going to Togo for 2 years and now that my contact has been minimized with my family in Honduras it will be even more minimal in Togo.
Whatever the reasons I decided to call my brother Jonathan. Now I haven't lived with him since I was 16 and when we were kids we used to be close. We were forever plotting against the little girls and I must say we had some pretty good successes. He was definately an excellent partner in crime. But over the years since I've been gone the contact between us had been few and far between. I call on his birthdays for a brief 5 minute phone call and thats about it. I see him when I go home and thus far have been content with that.
The loss of contact made me sad initially but then I became complacent and came to accept that we'd probably see eachother at holidays and that was about it. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't try harder but I was talking to my sister Katy and we were talking about good ol' Jonathan and I decided it had been awhile so why not call the guy. So I tried this past Friday and sadly got his voice mail. I also called Val who Im a little bit better about keeping contact with but her cell phone is always being taken away and her work schedule is erratic so our periods of contact come and go. But I was not to be deterred. So today I called my brother again and wouldn't you know I got ahold of him. I of course called him when he was sleeping but he was kind enough to wake up and talk to me.
We had a real conversation, as in one that lasted more than 5 minutes. We talked for 23 minutes to be exact (or at least I was only charged 23 lempiras but the guy who works there asks me to marry him on a regular basis so sometimes he takes off a lempira or two off). He even asked for my advice so once again I got to fulfill my role as big sister.
Now being a big sister is not a job to be taken lightly. Its a serious job with I must say many perks but at the same time very demanding. For one you have to always be ready with advice and not just any advice will do it has to be good advice. You also have to maintain control of your siblings when you're younger and let me tell you when you end up being the shortest one of the bunch that can be tough.
So I'm really happy I picked up the phone and called. It was nice. So while I'm about to have a corny moment in my blog please bear with me...For those of you who might have lost touch with someone or you dont call them often enough I encourage you to pick up the phone and just check in. You might realize that while you thought you drifted far apart you're actually not that far off.
