Oh Brother.......

I spent all morning frantic with worry. They wouldn't answer their phones, they wouldn't respond to my texts. I called my sister, I knew she would be asleep but I wanted her to worry with me. I just needed to hear her voice. We worried together, we called all the hotels in Kauai. I called my brother, he didn't answer. We called the hotels again, we called each other.....we said things like "bwaaa, I don't know....they say they don't have them there....ahh, I don't know...why don't they have their phones on....ahh, are you watching the news."

I called my brother. I called him again. and again. and again.

He finally answered. The worry burst out of me like a broken dam.

I told him everything I knew.

Which was nothing.

He said "ok"

That was it.

I told him that the hotel had no record of them.

He said "that's because they aren't at that hotel."

He knew which one they were at.

Of course he did.

A few minutes later he called me back,

He had called the hotel and talked to Dad, they were safe, the hotel had put an evacuation plan into action around 1 am.

"why won't they answer their phones?" I said

"because they have no service" he said

"oh" I said

And that was it.

I realized after I hung up the phone that they had each given me just what I needed.

My sister picked up the phone, recognized the urgency of the situation and dropped everything to talk through it and figure out what to do.

My brother calmly called me back, listened and fixed it.

She knows I need her...pretty much everyday.
But I wonder if he knows.
He has been at every dramatic crossroad in my life......junior high, high school, my first cross-country meet asthma attack.
He always listened, he never understood the drama....which is probably why he made it better.
He is calm and consistent.
For a long time all I wanted was for him to think I was cool, to be honest I probably still do.
One time we made up a roller-skating routine to "wake me up before you go-go"
we spent all day on it, he kept giving me high fives and telling me we were really good.
It was one of the best afternoons of my life.
I still like to talk about it, he pretends he doesn't remember, but he always smiles.

I don't push my kids to be a lot of things.....except for each other's friend.
Because that matters.
Olivia and Luke's friendship is one of my most tender blessings, which is why I melted yesterday when I picked them up from school and they both ran to me yelling "mom, mom the best thing ever happened today.....we had an assembly and we got to see each other."
Luke..... "and Olivia gave me a hug and sat by me"
Olivia...."and we got to hold hands during the whole assembly."

Hmmm I thought, now that right there is just good mothering.
I rode that little victory for awhile and quite enjoyed it until I was humbly brought back down with this next sentence...
Me: "so Luke how was the rest of your day?"
Luke: "good, except for I forgot to wear underwear today."
Yep, that right there is just real good mothering.