I had the loveliest phonecall from my ex-brother-in-law, Steve, this evening. He keeps in touch because he has a big ole kind and generous heart and we share a gorgeous bond which primarily consists of a lot of laughter and amusement. He keeps in touch with my kids and loves and understands their many moods and whims and goes with their flows. Good ole Uncle Stevie, as he's known to them.
When Carl and I divorced, part of the division of property and chattels contained our friends and family, sadly. Yet one thing has remained and stood the test and trials of time and that has been my lovely connection with the Baileys. We don't see each other as often as we'd like because our lives have drifted into different corners. Yet birthday cards and phonecalls and text messages and Christmas cards? They never miss a beat! And I look forward to receiving them every year.
It's very unfortunate that, in most cases, when a marriage breaks down, it affects the entire families involved. I guess that's how to has to be sometimes. Yet somehow ours has maintained an unspoken bond, a connection, if you like that exists regardless of the direction that our respective lives have taken.
I'm a very fortunate girl. I have been blessed with two wonderfully loving and caring mothers-in-law (yeah I know how to pick 'em) and two warped albeit funny, funny brothers-in-law. I have a beautiful set of in-laws - like bookends - couldn'a picked a better bunch (can someone forward this to all of them please? No use singing their praises without them being aware of it. What a bloody waste that would be).
Anyway, back to Steve. Steve and I have always been the 'naughty' ones in the family. I'm surprised we never ended up in jail because when we get together, it's usually mayhem. He is a very funny man... one of the few people who can make me laugh uncontrollably. He mimics everyone else in the family and I have no doubt that he's mimicked me over the years. It's a funny, funny thing to see and hear.
The past has to be left exactly there, in the past. Yet every now and then, like a photo album, it's delightful to bring it into the present, reminisce and relive happy times. Thats what Steve and I do. We recall and reminisce. We take the mickey out of each other over past decisions, mistakes, his past girlfriends (ahem), our misadventures, his past girlfriends (coughs), my past crushes but mainly HIS past girlfriends..... and it's an enriching experience to have someone to recall all those moments with. We've known each other 29 years and that's a LONG LONG time.
I'll try and find a photo of him and whack it up here.
I'm now left with a warm reminiscent memory of a camping trip with Buster (his late Rottweiler) and Ian, Steve's mate. Ian was snoring so loud that Stevie stormed out of his tent, sleeping bag zipped up to Pvssy's Bow (I HAD to spell it that way because the censors thought I was being naughty. See, even mentioning Steve get me into trouble) and slept by the fire. The visual of him walking still in his sleeping bag, one corner at a time like a human beanbag, still makes me laugh.
I also remember the time he accidentally saw my sister naked (another camping trip - we need to go camping again, me thinks), slapped his nether regions and said "Nothing! No reaction....it knowwwwws!"
And finally, to top off my inner giggles, the way he used to take off my ex-father-in-law, Jack (his Dad) after Jack had imbibed a few beers and, as usual, would trip over invisible turtles and in that gorgeously quaint Mancunian accent, Jack would say "Flippin' 'eck, what the fock was that?". THAT, in itself was a funny thing to see, but Stevie's re-enactment was bladder-control challenging.
Jack will get a page all of his own because he is a legend, is my ex-father-in-law.
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