Brothers

I was clicking through images from our summer travels and it hit me that Anders and Chase are always by each other's side.  Always.  Sounds obvious, but it wasn’t always that way.

In our old life, the boys went to daycare M-F, in different rooms.  The times they spent together were short and sweet.  The 2-year age gap between them was noticeable as Chase would knock down Anders’ towers and Anders would steal toys away from Chase.  I remember asking Google what I could do to encourage them to become best friends.

Fast-forward to this summer.  To a summer filled with new places and new spaces.  Jumping from town to town with little to no friends by their sides, except for each other. 

So they learned to play with one another.  To play camping and dinosaurs and kitty (which is a weird one.)  To play bad guys and cooking and cars.  To play on the slides, in the pools and on the trampolines.   To look out for each other, boss each other around and develop a real relationship with one another.

They snuggled into the same bed.  Every.  Single.  Night.  It was a new bed, but they were together.  I was a proud mom as Chase kept up with Anders at the playgrounds and Anders shared his iPad with Chase on the plane. They were never apart.  Ever.  

When they fought, it was rough and dirty.  Anders would hit.  Chase would hit back.  They would go from playing beautifully, to tears in an instant.

But they learned to be brothers.  To be best friends (and worst enemies and everything in between.)  And what a gift that is.