And Then There Were Four.

I remember the day my parents told us they were pregnant with my youngest brother. I knew it was coming, too. It was already me, T & W. I was totally cool with that. We had our own rooms, I don’t even remember why I hated the idea of another sibling but I did. I knew they were gonna tell us so I made them promise if we ever had another sibling we could name it Pinocchio.

I was a weird ass kid.

Well the day came. We all got called into the kitchen. I miss that kitchen. I remember the way the chairs felt. I remember the blue stains on the table from Mom doing crafts and needing to use Windex to clean up but instead, the table ate up the blue. I remember family dinners. I remember being able to see the front door from that table. Before texting and cell phones….that’s how we saw and communicated. Friends and neighbors walking to the front door. A lot of things happened in that house. That kitchen. But none quite top my amazing reaction to my parents telling me there was another baby coming.

I think I took the news pretty well.

If “pretty well” means yelling and screaming and crying and running out of that kitchen, nice tantrum, I nailed it. I knew it was coming. No idea why I was so pissed.

My mom didn’t have an easy pregnancy with him. I wish I was mature enough to understand what she was going through at the time. I would have been better to her. I was awful.

I resented the baby and my parents the entire pregnancy. I was SUCH an asshole.

One day my mom started bleeding. Bad. The ambulance had to come, and me and the current brothers went next door to the neighbors. I remember seeing herthroufh the window being taken out on a stretcher. If I remember correctly, one of us (probably me) knocked over the fish tank in a panic. RIP Fred #3.

I was mainly mad at the baby. My mom was my best friend and the baby was screwing all this up. She was mine. Not his.

Then there was the emergency c-section. My mom was losing a lot of blood, and the baby wasn’t healthy. If I remember right, I feel like the Dr’s actually had to come out and tell my Dad it didn’t look good for my mom or the baby. Bad enough where both of them might not make it.

I was in 5th grade. I was in class. An announcement came through on the speaker. “Congratulations, Kelly Hopper. Your mom just had a healthy baby brother. Can we all give a hand to the new big sister?”

Something changed. I dont know what happened. But when I met him……I fell in love. I somehow knew that my new baby brother was going to be my best friend for the rest of my life.

I remember almost feeling like he was mine. With the age difference a lot of people an thought he was. Whatever.

We did bring him with us a lot. He actually turned into my best friend. At 1 month old. More at a year. More at 3 years old. That’s when he met TH. I remember embarrassing him on his birthday at Red Lobster making them sing Happy Birthday. Omg he was so humiliated. It was awesome lol. And I know he still remembers it haha.

I’d like to say “long story short….” but I think this has been my longest blog. Let me wrap things up.

Mark is the best friend I have in my entire world. As much as I fuck up, I don’t think he judges me. Same sense of humor. That’s hard to find. In a tiny way I feel like me and TH raised him a little. I wonder if that’s why we are as close as we are.

He’s the most successful person I know. My baby brother, my Godson…..is the person I look up to more than anyone in the world. I’m so proud of what he’s done with his life. And I’m so damn thankful for who he has become to me. I tried to be there for him when he was growing up and now he’s the one holding me up when I fall. And I fall a lot.

Love you more than you’ll ever know, bro. Couldn’t get through another day without you. Thank you for being my bff. Sorry I freaked when I heard you were being born. Lol.