My brother

Today I was thinking about my little brother...

I hear the sound of confoozled people muttering in blogland... surely Leon has only ever mentioned his little Sister. Well yes, that's true.. I have.

Let me explain. L'il Sis and I were "Rhesus" babies. That is we are Rhesus +ve and Mum is Rhesus -ve. In the olden days - before then advent and regular usage of Anti-"D", Rhesus -ve Mum's made antibodies against their +ve babies - and each subsequent baby had a lower chance of survival.

I was a bit sick (and slightly premature) L'il Sis was pretty sick - and Mum had miscarriages that went into double figures - most of her pregnancies not lasting more than 8-10 weeks.

When I was 10, Mum got pregnant again. I remember vividly sitting by the open fire with Mum and Dad looking all serious, and asking me to sit down. The question I was asked then confused me, but I remember it like yesterday..

Mum:- "How would you like to have another baby brother or sister..?"
Me:- [after a pause and a confused frown] - "Are we going to adopt a baby then..?"

You see - it had been explained to me about Mum's inability to have more children and why - and it was the only logical explanation I could come up with..

Mum:- "No Leon - We are going to have another baby"

Against the odds, it would have seemed.... but I accepted it and became really excited about it.
I knew from the outset that he was a boy - and I called him David - Mum and Dad played along!!
Mum had occasional bleeds, but the pregnancy seemed to progress well.

Then I went to stay with a friend (who had visited the previous year) in Sweden
I was there for 2 weeks - and in the first week I got a letter from my parents saying that Mum was bleeding again and that she was having to rest a lot.

I sent them a letter back saying " Tell David to 'stick' in there - and that I loved him"

Mum lost David at about 20 weeks
She had to deliver him normally
She told me he was perfectly formed - tiny, but perfectly formed
I was devastated
He was SO real to me - I had such plans of all the things we would do together - and I couldn't understand why it was he had been taken away from us.
It was around about then that I had started to ponder the question - "Why is it that I look out of my eyes..?"

So my 10 year old head worked out that there must be someting more than just the body in the make up of a person - there had to be something that gave a person life

The part of all of us that "Looks out of our eyes"

Our soul if you like - the part of us that is eternal

I have one - so David must have had one - and that part of him was still there - somewhere - waiting for the perfect moment to join with the collection of cells we call a body and give it life.

He is still there now - and I wil always love him with everything that I am. And I know that he loves me too

He is my brother
And tonight I have spoken to him - at length - for the first time in many years.