Made up memory: The lone brother

Ben, me, Aspen

I'm sure being the only boy with three sisters had it's good and bad moments.

Some times it really worked to his advantage.  He was the king of the castle and our one and only brother, the boy that was sent to our family to try and keep us girls under control.  But I also imagine at times he probably felt like fitting in was a little hard.

He would suggest playing cowboys and Indians  rolling in the mud, climbing the trees and throwing snow balls at passing cars.

We would refuse and instead tell him we wanted to play Barbies, or house and that he had to be the dad, the horse or the dog.

But Ben never played along begrudgingly, he always jumped right into our fun, taking it to the next level.  While we were playing merry homemaker, he was the bad cowboy coming to steal our babies and eat our pies.  While we were playing fancy dress up Barbies, he was the local wagon builder using his constructs to make covered wagons to help our fashion star Barbies cross the plains, as well as the local horse trainer and wagon driver who would then help get us safely to our destination.  Where we wanted to pretend to be pioneers in the back yard, he got out the saw horses, threw blankets and ropes on them and turned them into our REAL horses.  When we would pretend a giant boulder was our tree house, Ben found scrap wood, nails and a hammer and went to work making a REAL tree house for us.

Ben made our lives full of fun and laughter (and a huge amount of teasing).  

He loved high adventure and let us tag along.

He never once complained about having all sisters (that I heard) or wished he had a brother.

And really, looking back, why would he?  

He had it made.