last night mcat picked me up and took me to dinner at this little bar with a live band. it was a chance for us to start to reconnect and to just spend time together. it's kind of frightening to think that he and i have barely spoken over the last 20 years - we don't really know each other any more.

granted, we couldn't talk much while the band was playing - they were pretty loud for the small space were in. ;)

but we talked a bit on the way in, while we ate dinner, and on the way home. my brother was apparently a pretty wild kid, it's almost a surprise he made it to adulthood. i remember when we were still living under the same roof together some of his escapades. he tried to climb to the top of a very tall tree once, tried being the operative word here. near the top a branch broke and he fell, landing on concrete and needing stitches in the back of his head. the boy is very lucky to be alive from that one incident alone. and another time he was one a bike and tried skidding to a stop behind this car. didn't quite make that either. he ended up sliding under the car and coming out the other end. i can't remember what injury resulted from that, but i'm sure it was something. he was always like that - doing things and getting himself hurt. i guess i shouldn't have expected it to stop when he went to live with our father after the divorce. lol

mcat and i couldn't be more opposite in a lot of ways either. the similarities in what we like surprises my husband, considering how long we were raised apart, but there are definite big differences too. he was the kid that got in trouble in school, i was the "good girl" (which explains why my peers thought i was such a freak). like my husband, he's lived out on the streets once or twice, while i've always managed to have a place to go - not necessarily a good place, but a place with a roof and food. he graduated high school, went into the military, was discharged, and eventually found his current career without college. i graduated high school, tried college with the major my mother wanted, left, married, had kids, divorced, and finally got me degree. i think we're both psychological/ emotional abuse survivors to some degree, just from different sources - him from dad and me from my ex-mil (although i doubt he or dad would agree with that assessment).

it was interesting to talk about these things, to see how different we are, to realize how lucky we are to be as healthy as we are. we both had tough lives when we were younger, and seriously could have ended up quite psychotic.

anyway, we had a good talk, ate a great dinner, and then listened to the mike veal band. they were good, LOUD, but good. they did an excellent queen and some rolling stones among others. in terms of volume, it didn't help much that mcat and i were right up front in this tiny little place ( neat little bar called fuzzy's place), but they were just a little loud for such a small place. and they kept hitting these particular chords that would set of mini dizzy spells. now, that was quite a trip. lol

all in all, i had a great time. getting to know my bro again, good food, good music - the ingredients of an excellent evening. we got home late, and my ears are still recovering, so it's probably a good thing the only call i got this morning was for a special ed class (which i don't do - my son is enough for me in one day). i'd say next time we do something i'd like it to be my treat, but with our finances in the condition they're in it would be awhile.

and i definitely want brother-sister time again soon.