HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

He’s 9 years older than I am, which makes him pretty old. His name is Maurice, but as a young kid who couldn’t articulate strange words (has much changed?), I just called him ‘Mo-iss.’

It was awesome growing up with a brother almost a decade older than I was. He was my hero, I wanted to be just like him, and I used to tag along with him all the time. He took me to ‘Star Wars’ in 77 when I was 3 years old. That was the beginning of many a happy movie-going experience with Mo-iss. Goodtimes.

I must have been incredibly annoying when I think about it. Imagine being 16… trying to impress the ladies and look after a 5-year-old at the same time. I remember being pushed off a high deck by him once at a youth group BBQ. I ate dirt and split my top gum. He didn’t impress the ladies that evening. Badtimes.

Hey, stuff like that happens with brothers. I forgave him pretty quickly, I’m sure he would have taken me to a movie or something to make up for it. Goodtimes.

Once I got really annoyed at him and threw something at him. I didn’t mean to hit him but whatever it was (I can’t remember) miraculously hit him right in the eye. He cried, I felt so stink. Badtimes.

I remember when he got his first car. A Vauxhall Cheviot (I thought it was cool, even if no once else did), cruising with Maurice (I could pronounce it properly then) into Auckland city with Pat Bennitar’s ‘Love is a battlefield’ blaring out the tiny car speakers. Goodtimes.

He wrote the car off. I remember mum and dad telling me that he had been in an accident before they dissappeared out the door to sort it all out, leaving me all alone. I got down on my knees and prayed hard that he was ok. Badtimes.

He was ok. Goodtimes.

He took me to Austraila for a week’s holiday. I was 12, he was 21 and must have been completely out of his mind. We saw ‘Les Miserables’ while over there (Maurice has fine taste in the arts, like classical music and poetry, I on the other hand like the Muppets and Spongebob). Goodtimes.

Maurice left for Africa, as a missionary for a couple of years. When I heard he was going, I cried myself to sleep. Badtimes.

Decades have gone by since those days. We tend to get busier as we get older, get married, have kids, mortgages and stress. Maurice and I don’t catch up much these days. We both live in different cities with full-on lives, he’s a professional with lots of letters after his name, I’m a youth pastor with pretty much no qualifications…

So Maurice, Happy Birthday! You are still an awesome brother… the best I’ve got. I hope you have a great day, get lots of presents and eat lot of food. Say hi to Sandra and Isaiah from us and I’m looking forward to the goodtimes when we catch up next.

Love you heaps.