This little brother went wee wee wee down the creek

This week I was in Duluth with my family. My whole family. My oldest brother Chris and his family are making a rare visit from Washington so we went up for the week. In my there are 5 siblings. Between us there are 7 children under 4 years with twins on the way. This is the first time all the cousins have been together. I caught the 4 older ones digging through my parents' attic unsupervised yesterday having the time of their lives! Let the good times roll.

Meanwhile, the siblings had some of their own childish fun. There are introverts and extroverts in my family. But when we're together, everyone is gregarious, everyone is laughing, everyone is loud. And I do things with my siblings that I don't do with anyone else. Like race up the creek.

Tisher Creek may be the only place I've ever felt truly agile. I spent whole days there growing up. I know every rock and crag by heart. I often daydreamed about escaping the police by disappearing into the creek. My brothers and I spent endless hours there fishing for bullheads, hopping across the rocks, and building forts.

And supposedly, we would have races: off the trails, up the creek, from Superior Street to 4th Street. So during our gregarious family reunion we decided to do it again... as 28, 30, and 32 year old men. Here's the video footage. What's so entertaining to me about the video is how so little changes over time. As a child, I always looked for an alternate route. I consistently hedged my bets against the paths that others took thinking I would get lucky (usually not the case). You'll notice I climbed a huge cliff rather than rely on stamina and the sensible route to beat my brother. Sure, I lost. But I lost creatively!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkQmoiJwIzc

By the way, after the race, we spent over an hour dislodging a giant felled tree spanning the river just to watch it tumble 15 feet into the creek. Then we raced down the creek (BAD idea). At one point I landed so hard on my heel that I bruised it and have been limping for 5 days! Of course, big brother Chris had to carry me to the road on his back!

I really like my zany gregarious family. The older I get the more I realize that there is no replacement for family. Even best friends get distant and best intentions are temporary. But family is something you're stuck with. There are so many ways that I'm completely different from my siblings. But I'm consistently surprised by similarities, shared quirks, a constant reminder of where I came from. So even when I feel like a total cultural anomaly (which happens to me often living out in the burbs), I remember that I come from somewhere and in that context, I make sense. I remember that I have a little group of people that's stuck with me too. I like that.

Hmm.... urge to flesh out analogy between Church and family....? Urge resisted. :)