{"id":7426,"date":"2014-09-15T10:06:06","date_gmt":"2014-09-15T16:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=7426"},"modified":"2014-09-15T12:36:29","modified_gmt":"2014-09-15T18:36:29","slug":"brotherly-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/?p=7426","title":{"rendered":"Brotherly Love"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If I had to describe my brother in one picture, this would be it. Talk about speaking a thousand words… Oh, and it’s important\u00a0to know he’s at a sailing comp…
\n\u2014Facebook, September 2014<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is so much ‘Dale’ in this picture I just had to reshare it on Facebook and then snag it and post it again here. And, as my comment above says, this image speaks volumes about the way I see my eldest brother. In it I see the middle-aged dude he is now and the stubborn teenager he was when we were mere kidlings. It is, at its core, an image of a well-lived life wrapped up in a couple of hundred-thousand pixels.<\/p>\n

I love my brother. And you have to understand that intonation is everything with a sentence like that. It can\u00a0be said in oh so many ways. Certainly in the traditional sense: he’s my brother; we’ve shared an entire world that is just ours and we’ve been there, no questions asked, when it counted. And of course there is the Hollies’ take on it: “He aint’ heavy, he’s my brother.” We all of us make up this world and we all, no matter our differences, owe each other a little love. I have also admired him for many, many years \u2014 in between the fits of eye-rolling and exasperation \u2014 for things that are very hard to explain if you can’t grasp the gestalt of what makes him him. And, of course, I love him because his is generally better (or worse) than anyone else’s brother depending on the goal of the conversation.<\/p>\n

And that’s what makes this picture so damn perfect. Because you see, I do love my brother (so there, Mom): who he is is a source of amusement and wonder, chagrin and despair, horror and envy. He is a treasure trove of stories, a bank of bar tales and always good for the win in the ever-present one-upmanship contests of life. And just know he’s there is a source of stability and comfort. And this picture, taken on the shores of a mountain lake in early September, vividly encapsulates the person I see in my head when I think of Dale.<\/p>\n

So let me break some of \u00a0it down, so you can start to parse the picture the way I do.<\/p>\n

Dale is dishevelled. He has been since I can remember. While I tended to the self-conscious, fashionable following of trends and style, Dale is, was, and always will be, balls-out determined to be comfortable. Screw style and what the hell has grooming got to do with anything?<\/p>\n

Dale is stubborn. All my best Dale stories are based on a stubbornness that precedes and transcends the mere fact that he happens to be in a wheelchair. Seriously. In any comparison, I will win every time. Stubborn.<\/p>\n

Dale is singular in his focus. If sailing is on the schedule, then sailing is damn well on the schedule; snow is not relevant. Neither are any of the other considerations most of the rest of us use to \u00a0prevent ourselves from succeeding.<\/p>\n

Dale is in a wheelchair. This is often\u00a0more obvious to us as observers than it is to Dale.<\/p>\n

Dale is generous, kind, giving, and a good soul. It might be a stretch to say this picture expresses that, but I can see it, and I’m guessing anyone that knows him can as well. But there wouldn’t be a Disabled Sailing Regatta without him so…<\/p>\n

Dale like things simple. While most of us would be more interested in a warm, double mocha-frappa-chinno around the fire at the point the picture was taken, beer is simpler, readily available and the obvious choice. Of course if a good scotch was readily to hand, then…<\/p>\n

Dale like to sail. Hobie cats, Martins, he’s on it… Newfoundland, Kananaskis… that’s what trains and trailers are for. Heat stroke, frostbite… meh, whatever.<\/p>\n

Dale is a pain in the ass. He’s my brother; I get to say that. Look at him. He’s going to be wet, track snow all over the place, potentially freeze something, skid\u00a0his damn wheel chair down a cliff and break yet another bone… But I am going to guess that at the moment this picture was taken (and frankly most moments in general) he doesn’t give a rat’s ass.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

So much of it is wrapped around understanding of Dale-ness and intensity of Dale-nicity that is inexpressible without having experienced him and that’s what delights me about this picture. Truly I would need tens of thousands of words to express it.<\/p>\n

Dale, if you ever read this, which I doubt you normally do but Mom may just make you: Cheers dude! Keep on, keeping on… I could never be you, but sometimes I might just wish I could.<\/p>\n

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If I had to describe my brother in one picture, this would be it. Talk about speaking a thousand words… Oh, and it’s important\u00a0to know he’s at a sailing comp… \u2014Facebook, September 2014 There is so much ‘Dale’ in this picture I just had to reshare it on Facebook and then snag it and post […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7426\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/macblaze.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}