Finally, it happened...
My big brother, Jean Claude and my BFF his wife Nat came to visit.
Yes, my brother married my best friend of my teens!
We met and became friends when we were 15 years old!
She married my brother when she was 19.
So awesome!
I got to keep her in my life!
Anyhow, this is the first time Jean Claude comes and visits me in the States!
I have to mention that I have always looked up to the guy my whole life,
he has always been a good example to me.
I didn't always know, or chose to forget, or see the mischief he got himself into as a kid and teen.
To me he was the perfect big brother.
Haha!
Anyway, I have fond memories of him playing board games with us younger siblings,
granted he would always win - it is a major accomplishment if any of us beat him at a board game!
We played games like Rat Race, Risk, Monopoly, Hide and seek, cards...
I would even play with him the "Tour de France" he would paint mini toy racing bikes,
and would make tracks/parcourt in the sand and we would race them with a marbles.
I would always often just play with him knowing I was going to lose,
just to please him and spend time with him.
One of my favorite games, was playing tag when we were out at parks and lakes and there where Jungle Jim's around, we would play like little kids even thought we were in our late teens...
Other kids (and older kids), would watch us envious and want to join in!
He would make me laugh to the point that I would fall on the floor!
He still makes me laugh...
He would always want me to feel his leg muscles!
We would also have wrestle and tickle matches.
I hated being pinned down and tickled!
...The elephant, the snakes, the ants!
When I turned 19 he couldn't pin me down anymore! :)
We would have swimming races, I didn't always lose in that competition!
I was fast!
No wonder my kids are good swimmers!
He would also tease me like brothers do, but in a nice way...
Except when he would tell me all excitedly:
"Vite viens voir!" - "Hurry, come and look!"
And I would come and he would show me his big turd in the toilet!
Eventually, I learned that, if he was in the bathroom, that was always the big surprise!
He would try and gross me out, especially at the dinner table!
Another fond memory was the times spent in the car as he would take me
to church youth socials and dances when I was old enough.
We would drive as far as Paris, Nancy, Belgium...
Or to dances in little village around where we lived...
I would ask him questions, any questions, spiritual, historical, philosophical, about faith and God...
And he would take the time to patiently answer, it meant a lot to me,
and was part of building my testimony and beliefs.
I'm gratefull I had him as a big brother...
And that my kids can get to know him a bit better and see how fun he is.
At the Houston Temple
