I'm Watching What It's All About

From my upstairs office window. Down the street, in the front yard of some of my favorite neighbors. Their oldest son, age 21, home from his mission for three days now and his youngest sister (maybe she’s 11). Kicking a soccer ball around. Just the two of them. Can you imagine how that little girl feels? Her older brother all to herself. You can tell he’s been playing soccer on P-days in Portugal. His feet are fast. His moves are controlled. He shows off a little (you know she loves it!), then he passes the ball to her. Her feet are a little fumbled still; her moves aren’t quite as practiced. I imagine if I had a means of looking at her face, she’d be concentrating pretty hard as she dribbles and knees the ball. She attempts a pass back to him. It goes, um... wide to say the least. He chases it down, turns, dribbles, shows off some more. That big brother kind of showing off. The kind little sisters giggle about and admire. I suspect at this point her newly renewed hero worship is still pretty intense. She loves him. She’s missed him. And now he’s home. Playing ball with her in the front yard.

That’s what it’s all about.

Now that Elder Tipton is home, that makes Josh, my Josh, the next missionary due back from our ward. Three months. I try not to think about it a lot. I find myself more anxious that I thought I’d be. I served a mission. It was the pivotal experience of my independent life. I know what it’s like to be out there and to watch the calendar winding down and know the end is coming. I feel a little schizophrenic sometimes because I have that first-hand knowledge that allows me to empathize with him, yet at the same time, I am on the other side of it now. I am a mom who has not seen her son in almost two years. I am looking forward to his homecoming. More than I normally admit.

Josh has a younger sister, too. The age difference isn’t 11 years. It’s closer to 11 months (actually 14 months). One of those future memories I’m looking forward to having is the image of the two of them hugging each other for the first time at the airport when he comes through the gate. It’s gonna be something. There will be a depth of feeling there that words can’t convey. Only the visual image will do it justice. She misses him. Especially now that she’s in the middle of so many new adjustments in her life. Josh has always been a quiet pivotal part of her support system. And she loves him for it.


That’s what it’s all about.

There’s another image I want to see. Katie may beat him and get to Josh first (partly because she’ll have a bead on Josh and not notice anything else and partly because he’ll defer and let her go first), but the hug between Jon and his older brother will also be something to see. I don’t know that there are two more different personalities than these two brothers, but they have been through the trenches together. I’m told there’s something about brothers. I can’t speak to it firsthand since I’m of the female persuasion, but I’ve seen it as an outsider often enough to believe it. Whatever that “something” is, it’ll be there in that airport hug come December.


That’s what it’s all about.

Of course, there will be lots of other hugs that day as well. One of them will be mine. I don’t know what that will look like to those who see it. And, I won’t even attempt to describe here what it will mean to me. There are no words. But I feel it approaching as each week closes and my arms begin to ache wanting it to happen now.

There likely won’t be soccer balls being kicked around our front yard this December. But there will be drives, movies, dinners and laughter. There will be nights again when all the bedrooms of the house will be full and there will be voices up too late talking into the wee hours of the morning. It won’t last forever. It’ll be a reprieve until the day they each head out again to their own places to pursue their own lives.


That’s what it’s all about.

Oh. Looks like my neighbors know what it's all about, too. The mom just came out with a camera. Taking pictures. Recording images. Because at their house today, what it's all about is happening for them.