intense purposes the man of our family, I asked him to please put her horse together for me. With his chest now expanding the size of Texas, he assures me with the words any teenage boy would say on the brink of manhood, “I got this, no instructions needed. “ I am a tad bit concerned but never the less trust my baby brother to accomplish the task I have set out to give him for his niece.
Five hours later as my mom, sister and I finish putting the final touches on our Christmas Eve gathering of family and friends, my brother walks in with a look of exasperation on his handsome face and hands me a bag with several leftover nuts and bolts and proceeds to tell me, “I do not know where these go but the horse is together. “ At this point the look on my face is priceless and one of huge concern. How can I allow my baby to get on a rocking horse that may or may not hold? And then before I can even ask, he looks over his shoulder and simply says “trust me”.
All evening as stories were told, laughter erupting, food enjoyed and the beautiful starry night‘s crisp cold air allowing us to savor the warmth of my mom’s fireplace, my thoughts continue to go back to the rocking horse and the bag of nuts and bolts I had tucked away. By this point I prayed silently to God for that rocking horse to remain in tack on Christmas morning.
Christmas morning awakens me with my baby girl touching my face and telling me it’s time to get up for Santa had come. As I walk her down the stairs into the living room she lets out a shout of glee and runs to the one thing she wanted, her rocking horse. Trying to keep my concerns under wraps, I gently place her upon her horse and I say a prayer, “Lord please let this horse stay together. “ My brother is now stretched out of the couch watching through sleepy eyes as his niece grabs the reins and slowly begins to bounce with eyes shining. I look at him with a silent stare, one that said “you better hope this does not fall apart. “
By now she is rocking her horse until the nose is touching the floor and to my surprise the springs are holding in place, and the stand is unshakeable. As she continued to rock back and forth and bounce as high as the springs would allow, I look over at my brother, who now wears a smirk across his face, is slightly winking at me and says once again “trust me”.
That Christmas I learned to trust the boy who was becoming a man and the love he holds for us, his girls, is never ending. Maybe those nuts and bolts were just extras, maybe they were meant to be used in the assembly. Whatever their true purpose was on Christmas Eve 25 years ago, they taught me to trust the love of my brother rather than his age. That Christmas morning didn’t change the fact I was still the eldest sister but what changed was how my heart saw my baby brother; a man in his own right at the tender age of 16.