Do you always get along with your sibling(s)?
My oldest often thinks his younger brother is super annoying. I remember my sister feeling the same way about me when we were in high school. It isn't often you see my oldest interacting with his brother outside of meal time or out in front of the TV. They have different interests, friend groups, activities, etc.
We went hiking over the long weekend. We were nearing the last steep climb when my youngest, who was trailing us all, yelled "stop! I need help." We turned to find him off to the side of the trail in pain. He'd lost his footing, his ankle rolled and he heard a pop sound. 
We were at least a mile away from getting to flat ground and where he could be helped. It was one of those moments where you think how are we going to get through this? We had him rest on the side of a hill, while we dug through our packs to see what we had (of course, we'd ran out of ace bandages and hadn't replenished the pack, and started to think in terms of building a splint out of sticks). Before we proceeded we asked our son if he could move his foot - it hurt, but he could. We asked if he could put weight on it - it hurt, but he could. We asked if he could walk - it hurt, but if we went slowly, he could.
His father and I attempted to have him walk and lean on us, but both of us are shorter than both of our sons by 4 to 5 inches. Our oldest is about the same height as his brother and works our regularly, so being able to support his brother was a better fit, but would he do it?
Once he saw the pain his brother was in, he agreed to help without any opposition. He had his brother put his arm across his back and told him to take weight off his injured foot. He encouraged his brother, "it's going to be okay. Make sure you watch where you're putting your feet. You can put more of your weight on me, I can take it." It was a wonderful moment to witness. It took considerably longer for us to finish our hike, but we were able to get our son out without issue.
We talked afterwards about what we'd remember most from this trip. The fun we'd had together, or our son hurting his ankle? While his ankle still hurts, I'm guessing his older brother showing his love for him might be what he (and his father and I) remember most from this trip.
When have you experienced (or witnessed) sibling love?
No comments:
Post a Comment