About 3 years into my marriage, my husband began to invite his brother to come over on the weekends whenever I cooked dinner.  This would eventually become an everyday situation.  Me, my husband, and his brother for dinner. While we ate, we’d watch a show called Bizarre Foods, with Andrew Zimmern.  We would travel with Andrew and live vicariously through him as he tried the cuisines of different cultures from around the world.  He’d eat boiled sheep’s brain or fried tarantula while we ate mashed potatoes and fried chicken.  

The three of us eating dinner together became our thing. He’d gotten so comfortable with me, that he’d started making dinner requests. He’d watch me cook and inquire about the steps I would take, so that he could practice at his own place. To help out, he would bring oven baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert and the drinks. After learning some of my cooking techniques, he would sometimes cook and invite my husband and I over.  We would then bring the drinks and the oven baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  If I didn’t cook or he didn’t cook, then we’d go out to a restaurant together. 

The more we were together, the more comfortable we became with each other. The three of us could talk about anything: music, politics, religion, the book of Enoch…. I endured conversations he and my husband had about American Football and ESPN and they listened to me talk about BeYoncé and Downton Abbey. Everyone knew he and my husband were extremely close, but many were clueless to the bond the three of us were forming.  We were becoming best friends.  We hung out together not just for dinner, but just for the sake of hanging out.  We were bonding.  Me, my husband, and our brother.  I finally had the big brother I had prayed my whole life for.  

When he married and moved to his wife’s state, it was difficult.  Our family would be breaking up.  We had become the Three Musketeers, The Three Amigos….  That would change now.  My husband and I felt incomplete.  It hit us hard.  We had gotten so used to it just being the three of us.  Although I understood, because I had moved to be here for love, his departure would hurt. During this time, he would come back for Christmas. We would also go there to visit…and we had Facetime, but it wasn’t the same and it wasn’t enough. No more was I able to cook just for us and we no longer had each other to ourselves.  It was different now.

After about three years, he and his wife moved back.  He was sick.  He had come back because he knew his time was drawing near.  They returned so he could be back with us and the rest of the family, so that if or when it happened, he would be near us.  

Our time back together was short.

I’ll always remember the times we spent together.  I’ll think of you as I eat some freshly made oven baked chocolate chip cookies.  Always loved, Never forgotten.