#358: Brother Wars

My brother and I went to see Star Wars The Force Awakens this afternoon! What is so amazing about this is not the movie, though it was fantastic, but that this is the first time I have spent time with my brother in years.

I'm not kidding, years. Lots of them. I can't even remember the last time we went out together...perhaps five years ago when we went out to dinner in South Austin?

We went to the theatre at the mall and the traffic was so bad I parked quickly. The entire walk to the mall he yelled at me for parking so far away and I was pretty sure that this was a bad idea.

But we got our tickets, popcorn, beverages and 3D glasses and set ourselves up in great seats and waited for the show to start. And waited. And waited some more. My brother kept asking when the show would start approximately every 43 seconds, and I again thought this was not the best idea I ever had. Shortly thereafter a teenage girl in an AMC uniform announced that there had been projector problems and the movie would start soon, which it did.

Here's where everything changed for me, however: the movie that played was Star Wars but was not in 3D. A low murmur went through the crowd. We looked around and half the people had their glasses on, half didn't.

I felt like someone should go tell the staff but hoped somebody else would do it. My brother said, "this is NOT in 3D." My stomach felt anxious. He said it again. More anxiety.

"I'm gonna go tell 'em." And then my brother was gone! He returned about 6 minutes later, concurrent with the movie screen going black. He said to the theatre, "They didn't know it wasn't in 3D." People cheered. I pulled my jaw off the floor and said thank you to this man whom I have known my whole life but have been entirely underestimating. Where did he get the courage to advocate for himself so effectively? It's taken me years of work to be able to ask the driver on a road trip to stop so I can use the facilities, and here he is, without any problem, getting a problem fixed for a bunch of people he doesn't know!

All this time I've been full of judgment and criticism of him and his life choices and his behavior [okay, pretty much his everything]. I hadn't seen until today how judgmental and arrogant I have been when it comes to him and my immediately family. I hadn't realized I've been just as close-minded and critical of them as I've believed they were of me.

As far as I'm concerned, I've already received my Christmas gift: not just that I got to spend time with my brother, but that I learned something about him and from him today.