My THIRD brother

It seems I am into telling stories lately. Today is the story of my brother's arrival. I can't remember Doug or John being born. My earliest memories include them. I can remember John being a baby who ate paper but I don't remember his arrival into our family. I do remember Mom's pregnancy with Layne. I prayed and prayed and prayed and PRAYED that he would be a girl. I wanted a sister soooo badly! I was overrun by boys! We were living in North Vancouver and when Mom's time drew near, I was sent to stay with Grandma Clarke in Powell River. She had an 'old folks' home as they were called then in Wildwood just outside of Powell River. I can remember clearly staying there. Some of the old people were nice to me and enjoyed having me. Some were senile and didn't like having a kid around so much and I was too young to understand that they didn't know what they were saying to me. One old lady I will never forget. Her name was Mrs. Jolly and she was really crabby. There was an East Indian family who lived next door with a girl my age that I liked to play with. But old Mrs. Jolly was rather prejudiced and she didn't lose this quality in her senility. When my friend came to the door and came in, Mrs. Jolly yelled at me (she was incapacitated and couldn't have forced me but her yelling was force enough...) and threw me out of the house in my socks.... I can remember helping Grandma in the kitchen and sitting on a stool at the counter which I thought was really cool.

Then came the phone call. It was a boy. I was so angry. I stormed to my room and slammed the door. Another brother. No one else knows what that is like to have the next 3 siblings by of the opposite sex. Evan might be close - he's surrounded by 4 girls but at least he had Jordan... But my heart quickly softened. I can remember running into the house when I got home in search of him in his bassinet. "Hi Eddy!" Only to find out that they were going to call him Layne. I did finally get my sister just over 2 years later (look for tales of her birth in August;-)). This picture was taken when grandma and grandpa McLean came to visit after his birth. He must be asleep in the house but here is the rest of us. Doesn't Mom look chic for just having her 4th child? And isn't that yard great? I loved that yard in North Van! There is a creek that runs through the trees behind us in the picture. It had 2 apple trees, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries.


But Layne turned out to be a pretty good brother. He was my cute kid brother who tagged along with me and my friends. I used to take him to movies with my friends (when the Saturday matinee was only $.75). I remember seeing Pete's Dragon with him in Cranbrook. He was sweet and funny and he didn't bug me as much as John and Doug did (or should I say Doug and John as Doug was deffinitely the bigger bug!) He always had such a goofy sense of humour. I can remember Mom trying to punish him for something while he rolled around on the floor laughing and being silly and finally she gave up and started laughing! That's just the kind of boy he was. Hard to stay mad at.


Here he is in his soccer uniform. I liked watching him play soccer. I have other pictures of Gram watching this game, too.


And here he is a couple of years ago when he came to visit - jamming with Erin and Dean.

Truly I am so grateful for my little brother who has been so kind to me. I really appreciate the effort he puts into having a relationship with me! Happy birthday, Layne!