I loved this article and wanted to comment right away, but life happened. Thank you again for bringing to our attention an interesting object of reflection. I have an older sister (6 years older). We're very different, but very close, so I relate to the quote about common roots branching out in different direction. Our relationship is something both natural and that needs a lot of work: to accept the other and how they can change over time, to forgive the shortcomings, to adapt to new circumstances in their life that might affect you. But also, you have someone who will always celebrate you and whom you will always celebrate.
So beautiful of a relationship Jessica and so nice and so very important for me to share my own personal thoughts of my brother.
Patti's last post shared with us your relationship and a poem that expressed that precious sibling relationship.
I commented to your mom's post that I lost my brother in 2020 to covid and wrote him a song right after he died. I will certainly share that here on my next post that song to both of you.
I appreciate your sharing of your relationship which helps me to also reattach myself to the relationship I had with my brother.
I love this post, and I cannot help but feeling envious ☺️ It’s a special and beautiful thing, having a strong and lovely bond with your siblings; an ally for life. My relationship with my brother is very estranged, but I have learned to accept that. To me, there’s something irreplaceable in having the shared memories of childhood and growing up together. But if there isn’t that, I have learned to build my own family through the friendships I’m blessed with ☺️
I love this post, and I cannot help but feeling envious ☺️ It’s a special and beautiful thing, having a strong and lovely bing bond with your siblings; an ally for life. My relationship with my brother is very estranged, but I have learned to accept that. To me, there’s something irreplaceable in having the shared memories of childhood and growing up together. But if there isn’t that, I have learned to build my own family through the friendships I’m blessed with ☺️
‘The greatest thing our parents gave us was each other.” I am #4 of 8 children and I treasure each one of them. In some ways, it is like we grew up in different families though. Birth Order has an impact - among other things. So we don’t always agree on how things were but we love getting together and have lots of shared joke and stories. Even the in-laws which we prefer to call out-laws, once they get used to us, love our family!
This is so beautiful and moving I have not known how to respond. I had a great brother, the best ever. He passed away when he was 33 and I was 30. I miss him every minute of every day.
Jesse, thank you for this tribute to siblings. It means so much and is so beautifully expressed.
Beautiful post about siblings. I lost my only brother this past February. I am now 81; he was four years younger. Over the past years since our parents died, we had become so close. And we loved to talk on the phone and remember our childhood—such a wonderful time. Now he is gone and I'm left with a big hole. So cherish those brothers and sisters! 🥰💕❤️
Well I'm trying to comment, but your post, dear Jesse, has caused a waterfall from my eyes. What you said about the unending laughter and inside jokes, quotes from movies, etc is who we are. Until I met my husband 30 yrs ago, my brother was the one who just "got me". I'm the oldest of 4, firstborn daughter to wonderful loving-- yet very young and somewhat broken parents. Over 10 years we became 2 girls & 2 boys. Pretty even odds for anything that was happening. However, my one brother who is 2 yrs younger, acted like the oldest. I admit he was/is way more deserving of the title than myself, in terms of acting mature and responsible- even to this day - me being 64 and him being 62! Yet it didn't interfere with a thing growing up, but in fact it helped us both - all of us - even our parents. He seemed to sense my precarious nature early on and in acting the role of eldest, became the one who looked out for all of us-- as I couldn't ever have done. He still does this today! I do believe I now need to express my heartfelt admiration to him for so seemlessly taking on this responsibility as your birthday tribute has inspired me to. So thank you Jesse, for your expressing your blessed feelings of gratitude you have for your brother,Jackson.
Thank you for writing about the ties that connect siblings. As the older sister (my lil sis Claire is 2 years younger than me), I am intrigued to hear the perspective of the younger sibling. Likewise, my sister is my best friend, the person who knows me likely better than I do, my other half. She once said to me: “Jess, do you ever wonder if we are two parts of the same brain?” Claire is gifted in math, while I’ve been the artist my whole life. In a way, painting and math are like two sides of the same coin (exploring the universe through numerical equations versus expressing the universe in color and form theory. One example is how the modern painters reference color to evoke the Pythagorian idea of the music of the spheres.) Often people ask us if we are twins, which makes us laugh. It’s funny, because we share an identical loud laugh and a similar tone of voice. This may sound strange, but there have been moments where I believe that my sister and I can speak without talking. One night we played 2 rounds of the word game hangman. Instinctively we guessed each other’s letters and words exactly right, as if we already knew the other’s chosen word in our heads. On a cafe napkin, we were able to spell out each other’s hangman word without a single error or mistake, no hesitation: breathless and tarantula entered into the hangman lines. My first memory is the day she was born, when my dad asked if I wanted an egg mcmuffin (back then a special treat for me at age 2) or if I’d rather see my new sister. I want to meet my sister, I said of course. There is something special, profound, and intense about the connection we share with our siblings. Your story about your older brother speaks of this connection so beautifully. Thank you!
This is a beautiful post. Thank you, Jesse. I noticed that you included a passage quoted from TJ Wray. It must be from her book on surviving the loss of a sibling. I was one of the featured writers in her book. She’s an amazing author and has done so much to help those of us whose siblings have died.
moving me to tears thank you !!!
I loved this article and wanted to comment right away, but life happened. Thank you again for bringing to our attention an interesting object of reflection. I have an older sister (6 years older). We're very different, but very close, so I relate to the quote about common roots branching out in different direction. Our relationship is something both natural and that needs a lot of work: to accept the other and how they can change over time, to forgive the shortcomings, to adapt to new circumstances in their life that might affect you. But also, you have someone who will always celebrate you and whom you will always celebrate.
So beautiful of a relationship Jessica and so nice and so very important for me to share my own personal thoughts of my brother.
Patti's last post shared with us your relationship and a poem that expressed that precious sibling relationship.
I commented to your mom's post that I lost my brother in 2020 to covid and wrote him a song right after he died. I will certainly share that here on my next post that song to both of you.
I appreciate your sharing of your relationship which helps me to also reattach myself to the relationship I had with my brother.
Thanks so very much ⚘
I love this post, and I cannot help but feeling envious ☺️ It’s a special and beautiful thing, having a strong and lovely bond with your siblings; an ally for life. My relationship with my brother is very estranged, but I have learned to accept that. To me, there’s something irreplaceable in having the shared memories of childhood and growing up together. But if there isn’t that, I have learned to build my own family through the friendships I’m blessed with ☺️
I love this post, and I cannot help but feeling envious ☺️ It’s a special and beautiful thing, having a strong and lovely bing bond with your siblings; an ally for life. My relationship with my brother is very estranged, but I have learned to accept that. To me, there’s something irreplaceable in having the shared memories of childhood and growing up together. But if there isn’t that, I have learned to build my own family through the friendships I’m blessed with ☺️
This is such beautiful heartfelt writing about your brother Jesse, it made me smile and feel the warmth 🩷🪷
‘The greatest thing our parents gave us was each other.” I am #4 of 8 children and I treasure each one of them. In some ways, it is like we grew up in different families though. Birth Order has an impact - among other things. So we don’t always agree on how things were but we love getting together and have lots of shared joke and stories. Even the in-laws which we prefer to call out-laws, once they get used to us, love our family!
This is so beautiful and moving I have not known how to respond. I had a great brother, the best ever. He passed away when he was 33 and I was 30. I miss him every minute of every day.
Jesse, thank you for this tribute to siblings. It means so much and is so beautifully expressed.
Beautiful post about siblings. I lost my only brother this past February. I am now 81; he was four years younger. Over the past years since our parents died, we had become so close. And we loved to talk on the phone and remember our childhood—such a wonderful time. Now he is gone and I'm left with a big hole. So cherish those brothers and sisters! 🥰💕❤️
Well I'm trying to comment, but your post, dear Jesse, has caused a waterfall from my eyes. What you said about the unending laughter and inside jokes, quotes from movies, etc is who we are. Until I met my husband 30 yrs ago, my brother was the one who just "got me". I'm the oldest of 4, firstborn daughter to wonderful loving-- yet very young and somewhat broken parents. Over 10 years we became 2 girls & 2 boys. Pretty even odds for anything that was happening. However, my one brother who is 2 yrs younger, acted like the oldest. I admit he was/is way more deserving of the title than myself, in terms of acting mature and responsible- even to this day - me being 64 and him being 62! Yet it didn't interfere with a thing growing up, but in fact it helped us both - all of us - even our parents. He seemed to sense my precarious nature early on and in acting the role of eldest, became the one who looked out for all of us-- as I couldn't ever have done. He still does this today! I do believe I now need to express my heartfelt admiration to him for so seemlessly taking on this responsibility as your birthday tribute has inspired me to. So thank you Jesse, for your expressing your blessed feelings of gratitude you have for your brother,Jackson.
Happy Birthday indeed❤️🔥
Thank you for writing about the ties that connect siblings. As the older sister (my lil sis Claire is 2 years younger than me), I am intrigued to hear the perspective of the younger sibling. Likewise, my sister is my best friend, the person who knows me likely better than I do, my other half. She once said to me: “Jess, do you ever wonder if we are two parts of the same brain?” Claire is gifted in math, while I’ve been the artist my whole life. In a way, painting and math are like two sides of the same coin (exploring the universe through numerical equations versus expressing the universe in color and form theory. One example is how the modern painters reference color to evoke the Pythagorian idea of the music of the spheres.) Often people ask us if we are twins, which makes us laugh. It’s funny, because we share an identical loud laugh and a similar tone of voice. This may sound strange, but there have been moments where I believe that my sister and I can speak without talking. One night we played 2 rounds of the word game hangman. Instinctively we guessed each other’s letters and words exactly right, as if we already knew the other’s chosen word in our heads. On a cafe napkin, we were able to spell out each other’s hangman word without a single error or mistake, no hesitation: breathless and tarantula entered into the hangman lines. My first memory is the day she was born, when my dad asked if I wanted an egg mcmuffin (back then a special treat for me at age 2) or if I’d rather see my new sister. I want to meet my sister, I said of course. There is something special, profound, and intense about the connection we share with our siblings. Your story about your older brother speaks of this connection so beautifully. Thank you!
What a loving tribute to Jackson and to the relationships between siblings everywhere.
This is a beautiful post. Thank you, Jesse. I noticed that you included a passage quoted from TJ Wray. It must be from her book on surviving the loss of a sibling. I was one of the featured writers in her book. She’s an amazing author and has done so much to help those of us whose siblings have died.
blessings to you and family on Jackson's birthday...a true Leo under the stars. Dave Pi3.14
Happiest birthday for brother...blessings to everyone. Dave Pi3.14
Your writing just glistens with love!