You know how girls usually have this crazy ‘connection’ with their sisters or best friends, and we feel guys will never really understand?
We are ’emotional beings’ and they don’t really get it…or so we think…
Over the last month…I learnt something quite different. Give a guy the opportunity to ‘open up’ or ‘be sentimental’ and he can be just that.
I’m learning.
My better half has two brothers; and no sisters. So when I first got married I found it quite difficult to comprehend that my mother in law and I were the only ones chatting at the dinner table while the boys would focus intently at their food, working on it like it was a mission; and then cautiously excuse themselves from the table when they felt they could get a word in between our conversations.
I would nag my husband to spend time with his brothers; sit with them, talk with them.
“Ask them how their day was.” I would say.
His response would be “ok I’ll try”.
A few days later I’d kind of bring it up again, to see if there was any progress in my efforts to create this bond between the boys and he would say: ‘we spent like an hour together yesterday evening!’ which was in reference to their time watching Top Gear at 9pm the night before. There was no conversation during that 56 minutes of television time; just the occasional laughter in unison at a really bad joke cracked by Jeremy, or the occasional ‘Hey, will you have something to drink?’ during the commercials.
I didn’t quite understand it; but apparently, because I didn’t have any brothers, (we are four sisters), I was told I may never quite understand the communication the boys had.
Until quite recently…
Hasnain, my youngest brother in law, took some time off after graduating and decided to come to Canada for a month. Both my husband and I were extremely excited to see him; and a part of me was worried about him settling into our routine for a month, or if we’d do enough for his memories of Canada to be…memorable.
It turned out to be an awesome 29 days, but the best part was the brotherhood I saw between the two boys. Not only did they have late night conversations and talk about anything and everything; I saw a side to both boys that I didn’t even know existed.
They expressed themselves in a non-girly, not-too-emotional, sort of way, and brought out the best in each other. For the first time since we moved to Canada, I saw a keenness in my husband to make his brother’s holiday a great one; for both of them, and for me of course 🙂
Hasnain’s vacation to Canada turned out to be not only great for him, but for us too. The boys keep up a lot more, and are a lot closer; now that’s what I meant by bonding!
Hope they frequent Canada and that the relationship between the boys continues to remain as it is.