What a neglected little blog we have here! Time to rectify that…..let's talk about a torrid love affair, shall we? And by torrid, I mean all talk and no action. Also, no real love - not of the romantic kind, anyway. Let's start at the beginning....
My baby brother, Shaun, a.k.a. Dough Boy, is five years younger than me. We have always been pretty close, and it’s been one of the great joys of my life that we have remained that way. He is one of my most favorite people on the planet……despite what I am about to relay.
You see, Shaun has long had a crush – fully REQUITED!! – on Suzanne. I have no concrete recollection of how or when it started, but one day Shaun and Suzanne were in love and going to get married. “Someday,” they said.
It became a thing. They flirted – shamelessly. They asked about each other – incessantly. They made inappropriate comments to see me squirm. I admit, I laughed a lot. As did they. They LOVED/LOVE to play this up. For two people with only minor interest in the theatre, they are stellar performers. They were (and are) too funny.
Soon, Suzanne became Shaun’s “Goddess,” a title she holds to this day. Not even Suzanne’s marriage could deter their love – Shaun professed devastating heartbreak, but vowed his love could survive this betrayal. Suzanne told him hers would, too. Their "love affair" almost ended forever upon the birth of Rory, however. Shaun said that marriage was one thing, but to have another man’s child? Unforgivable. Yet, she remains his Goddess. When Kyan was born, and we were trying to decide who he looked like - I couldn't stop myself. “Truth be told, he reminds me a lot of Shaun when he was a baby,” I told Suzanne. This made Shaun’s day...week....month...year, of course!
To this day, their love endures, though perhaps in a slightly different form. Shaun has resigned himself to KellyBoy and the children, not that this stops the two of them joking of running away together (Shaun and Suzanne, not Shaun and KellyBoy....disturbing). When I talk to Shaun, there is always a "And how is my Goddess?" often followed by a "Tell her I said....{insert saucy comment here}." And in a Facebook post about an outing with Dough Boy, Suzanne had to chime in, with "Did he bring a date? 'Cause I know someone....." They entertain me always. And don't tell them this, but I love their silly, outlandish, often inappropriate, hilarious repartee. Two of my favorite people on this planet trading quips and cracking us all up? That sure is my idea of a good time.
When Suzanne received her diagnosis, I called my mother and sobbed........ howled....... ranted........ raved....... raged........and when I was somewhat coherent, I shared this awful thought: "Oh no, how am I going to tell Shaun?" Because, despite their theatrics, there is a real affection there, of course. I had a harder time telling him than anyone else, I think. And when I began work on the smile book, Shaun had only one request.....
This picture. It is one of my favorite pictures ever – Suzanne and I were juniors in college; this was Easter of that year. Shaun would have been a sophomore in high school, I think. Notice their arms around each other and their giddy, laughter-filled grins. The wagging finger in the picture? That is me (holding my baby cousin Chelsea, who is about to graduate high school!), giving them what-for over their flirty shenanigans! This picture makes me smile and laugh....it sums them up perfectly.
Dough Boy & Goddess......fake loving since the mid-90s.....how lucky I am they are both part (the nutty part, of course!) of my family.
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