Band of brothers

Once upon a time, there was a little girl and she had three big brothers. The first brother was much older. He was kind and protective of his little sister. The third brother was just a few years older. He was a fun playmate, but when they were small, they used to fight a lot too.

The brother in the middle was not like the others. He wasn't so much older that he was like a caretaker. And he wasn't so much younger that he was a rival. He was funny but not a showoff. He was smart but not a star. He was the brother in the middle.

Once when the little girl had just turned 14 years old, the brother in the middle was in a bad car accident. A very bad accident. It hurt his brain and it broke his skull and it smashed his chest. He didn't wake up after that. He was in the hospital for seven days, and then he died.

The little girl was sad. And a little scared. Because when she saw her brother in the hospital, they had shaved off most of his shaggy beard. With his wavy hair down to his shoulders, and because he was so badly hurt that it made him look much smaller than he really was, it didn't look so much different from her own self lying there. All of a sudden she realized that she was more like the brother in the middle than anyone else. She had always been.

That story happened 30 years ago today, and the little girl is all grown up now. But she never forgot him, and now she smiles when she catches a glimpse of him in the mirror. And she tells him a lot of things that she didn't have a chance to say.