Friday, October 15, 2010

FUN Friday

My little brother had a heart attack this week at 37. It woke him up at 2am on Monday. He doesn't have health insurance so he didn't go to the hospital until he passed out at work today in the Nurse's office. He's in overnight as they run tests to see how much damage has been done. 37 is too young for a heart attack. I'm not even 40 yet and I'm too young to lose my baby brother. I thought my FUN Friday post would be a few fun stories about Drew to entertain you and to make myself feel better. I'm probably breaking a million Blog Rules by posting this AND one of my stories, but I don't care. I don't blog for rules. I blog for ME.

I can't share my favorite Drew memory with you because we're sworn to secrecy and will carry it to the grave.

When he was born, I was thrilled to have a baby brother. My mom couldn't put him on the floor because I would instantly smother him with kisses.

As he got older, though, I wished he was a baby sister instead. So I dressed him like one. He let me. Mom took pictures. They were in frames on my desk when I worked in production. He did as well, though we always on separate tv shows. I would get calls from him every so often after a mutual friend had stopped by my office to say 'hi'. "I thought I told you to take those pictures DOWN!" he would yell. "You're ruining my rep!" 5'11", 250 pound men don't like to be seen with dresses and hats on, you see. I would apologize and swear that I was putting them in my desk, but I never took them down. His reaction was too much fun.




When he was four years old, I caught him at the end of the hallway stuffing cotton up his nose. We had to go to the hospital so that they could pull out. I tormented him on the way there with images of loooooooong needles they would stick in him. Because I'm that kind of sister.



When he was seven, he was chasing me with a grasshopper (which I was terrified of) when he tripped on the rug in my grandma's kitchen and split his lip open on the foot of her dining room table. He spent Thanksgiving in the ER getting his lip stitched. When we lived together after college, I paid to have that dining room table brought up from San Diego when my grandparents were going to donate it. I told him that I wanted it to be a constant reminder to him what would happen if he tried to chase me with anything. Because I'm that kind of sister.

I quit drinking nine years ago. We had season seats to the San Diego Chargers together (that's him, Bren and Sean). I had been sober for less than 48 hours when we went to a game together. I was sitting in my seat when he came down the stairs with the biggest beer I have EVER seen. The plastic cup was so full, the alcohol sloshed over the sides, some of it onto me. He heaved his giant frame down into the seat next to me, his eyes on the field, completely oblivious to my disbelieving gaze. I cleared my throat. He looked over at me and said, "WHAT?" "Do you MIND?!?" "Jenn, you're going to have to get used to it if you're going to stay sober. You should be THANKING me." And with that, he took a lusty gulp complete with the "AAAAHHHHH!" after he swallowed. That's my baby brother. I'm laughing now as I'm typing this and I can't tell you how many times I've shared this story today.

Before you label him a tool, let me tell you that this is the brother who came to my aid at 8pm on a Friday night when I was working on a pilot and my Production Assistant quit. I had 26 scripts that had to be delivered. As the Coordinator, this now fell on my shoulders. My brother, who was all of 23 at the time, gave up clubbing with his friends to come help his sister. He spent an hour pouring over addresses, labeling the envelopes and dividing the deliveries (yes, network people, producers and actors want their scripts delivered no matter what). He took 13. But not just any 13. He took the 13 that had to go the farthest because he didn't want his sister out delivering scripts until 2am (which is when he finally got home).

(from left: Drew, Sean, Bren, Drew's son Dillon, and Dear Ol' Dad)

So while he can be selfish at times, he can also be incredibly giving and caring on other occasions. Just like baby brothers should be. He has been my biggest tormentor and my biggest defender. We have shared 37 years of hopes and dreams and triumphs and pain. It would suck to lose him now. Hopefully, this is the wake up call he needs to change his lifestyle, to go back to being the carefree brother who used to roll with the punches even when he ran out of film in the middle of a Friday night shoot.

He is the funniest guy I know. I love him dearly. 37 years is not even close to being enough time with him. I want at least 37 more.

Who is your closest relative? And what is your favorite story?

13 comments:

  1. I hope your brother makes a full recovery. :)

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  2. Wishing Drew a fast and full recovery!

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  3. I couldn't imagine the pain you must be dealing with right now. I have a brother that I'm close to and I don't know if I would be able to have written such a detailed blog post.

    I hope Drew makes a speedy recovery!

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  4. I'm so sorry--I hope everything goes well! He sounds like a perfect baby brother :)

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  5. Very sweet post, sounds like there's a lot of love to go around :D

    Here's to a speedy recovery and 37 more years.

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  6. sending a prayer up for your bro! You guys have such a wonderful relationship. Lots of love, and that is amazing.

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  7. Oh Jennie. I'll be wishing and hoping for Drew to make a quick recovery. Sending you good vibes today.

    I have a brother who's 8 years older than me, and who was always full of good intentions that more often than not went awry.

    4-year-old Me: I wonder what it would feel like to fly.

    12-year-old John picks me up by my FEET and spins me around a dozen times... then LETS GO. I hit the wall then slump to the floor.

    12-year-old John: So? What'd it feel like?

    4-year-old Me: WAH!

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  8. This was such a sweet post Jennie, it's great to let those feelings out, especially among friends. I wish him a full recovery and for both of you to not lose your sanity through all of this! You're an awesome girl and he sounds like one awesome brother!

    A life without my two sisters, no matter how much they can bug me at times would be no life at all. I love them dearly and would hate to lose them.

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  9. I hope your brother makes a full recovery! Thanks for posting the stories- and a little peek into your life.

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  10. I hope all is well with your brother!

    My sister is my closest friend. We've always been best buddies and time hasn't changed a thing!

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  11. So scary! I hope he's okay and recovers 100%. Keep us posted.

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  12. Thank you everyone for your well wishes! It was very minor, luckily. Just enough to scare him into changing his entire lifestyle, but not enough to do any permanent damage to the heart. Fingers crossed he's actually going to take this seriously and get his act together! Typical Drew - he called me today to go over MY fantasy football line-up for tomorrow because my kicker has a bye week and he wasn't sure that I had bothered to look. He wanted me to drop my back-up tight end, pick up a new kicker, switch out my QBs and my defense because he thinks I have a "really good shot at winning this week." He says that every week. The eternal optimist. My players just flat out suck so I likely won't get a win all season. But that's our Drew - always encouraging.

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  13. I have tears in my eyes as I read this. I have a baby brother, too, and he's much like yours. I love him dearly.

    I pray he makes a full recovery and that he, and anyone reading this who needs to make changes, will do so. I've lowered my BP ten points and need to lower it about 20 more. Good luck to all of us!

    And, I loved the stories!

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