my (big) baby brother has a birthday

one summer when i was home from college i decided that i wanted a new, fancy camera. like the kind with a big lens and lots of complicated features that looked professional and, more importantly, cool.

i begged and begged my parents to help me pay for it. i needed it, i said. i wanted it, i pleaded. i was hoping to do a semester abroad during my next year of college, and didn't they want me to be able to take beautiful photographs of wherever i went? if i had a nice camera, i reasoned, i could do freelance projects and sell stories and photos together. couldn't they see it was for my professional well-being? i asked.

i even agreed to have the camera count for an extraordinary amount of gifts all wrapped into one. two birthdays and christmas! two christmases! and i'll never ask for anything, ever again! ever! but to no avail.

then one morning my mom came into my room. an anonymous donor had stepped forward to help finance my camera, she said. i asked who, but she wouldn't tell me. i thought maybe it was grandparents, or a generous aunt. or maybe even my parents in disguise (or without my dad knowing). in the end, it didn't matter. i was getting my camera! it was the best day of my life!

happily we went off to the camera store, my little brother and his friend tagging along. we found a salesman. we asked lots of questions. we looked at lots of cameras. but i knew just what i wanted, a sleek, sexy nikon with all the trappings. i stared at it. i held it. i loved it. my brother looked over my shoulder. he watched. he waited.

out of the store we went, everyone else walking on the pavement, and me a few inches above. i could already imagine all the adventures my camera and i would have. i named her nobility, because that's what she was to me.

a few steps from the car, i asked again. who was this generous stranger who had helped my dream come true? who? who?

my little brother, 14 years old, saving nickels and dimes from mowing the lawn and cleaning out the garage all summer long, put his arm around my shoulder. he looked at me and squeezed. and then quietly he said, "it was me."

and so, to the kindest, lovingest, most sacrificing and dear baby brother there is, a happy, happy birthday to you.