...has made me a better person.
My sister and her husband have been married for a year this July 5, so I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the things that my new brother D has added to my life. You should know, that while he is married to my sister, he has never been my brother-in-law: D-Man is my brother!
While walking to SP Waterpark entrance, for the first time I consciously realized how moral my bother is. I learned that day that he does not --almost ever-- and never consciously walk on handicap ramps. Now, me being the insensitive boob that I sometimes am used to walk up those things all of the time. I asked him why he never walks up the handicap ramps, and he simply said something to the effect of, "It's almost disrespectful. We have full use of our limbs, yet we are too lazy to take the stairs."
What I think I love the most is that his morals are not forced on others; he doesn't stand at handicapped ramps and with picket signs saying, "Respect the quadriplegics. Take the stairs!" His actions - most often demonstrated silently-- promote his causes.
I try to keep my apartment emaculant. He bought a book about cleaning, and he was so excited about putting these rules into practice. He would occasionally call me in the wee hours of the morning to tell me that a toilet is supposed to be cleaned everyday; you should change your dishrag daily, and if you don't then you should soak it in bleach and at least change it weekly; you should vacuum daily; and every morning when you wake up [possibly while you shower] you should pull your covers back and air our your room by opening a window.
First, I thought he was nuts for calling me so early to tell me these things, but then I realized that if he was calling me at seven in the morning, that means he was up cleaning at seven in the morning. There was action on his end as well.
Because of him, and his book, there was a time [before working fulltime] when I would wake up and vacuum my apartment every morning. Cleaned my toilet every three days. Washed my sheets every week, once every three days on a good week. Cleaned my baseboards with a toothbrush. And inducted into my daily existence a bleach box in which I now keep my dishrag which I try to remember to change out every week.
I began reading the paper. Because of my Dear Brother D, I willingly began to subscribing to USA Today, and then to This Week, a magazine that takes all of the worthwhile news stories from the week and compiles them for people who just don't have time to read a whole paper everyday.
While I no longer receive those subscriptions, I at least read CNN.com or USAToday.com daily to keep up on current events, void of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Tom & Katie.
I make people take off their shoes before walking on my carpet. That has been a rule at my brother's house for as long as I have known him. When I moved into my own apartment here in Houston, I quickly adapted that rule because I wanted to keep my carpet as clean as he kept his [no fees for carpet upon moving out of the apartment]!
While I am not there yet, I have learned that is possible to give 110% at everything to which you place your hands. Everything he does is at "all plus" or nothing: softball, cleaning, teaching, reading, and loving. Sometimes I watch him in awe, wondering how he never tires. Wondering how me manages to give his all at teaching for a bit more than 10 hours a day, then still makes it to the gym to work out, still manages to do everything else he does, and go to be by 10:30 or 11:00pm every night.
My hats off to you Brother D. Thanks for helping me to become a better person. Sister Nix-- great catch!
My sister and her husband have been married for a year this July 5, so I thought now would be a good time to reflect on the things that my new brother D has added to my life. You should know, that while he is married to my sister, he has never been my brother-in-law: D-Man is my brother!
While walking to SP Waterpark entrance, for the first time I consciously realized how moral my bother is. I learned that day that he does not --almost ever-- and never consciously walk on handicap ramps. Now, me being the insensitive boob that I sometimes am used to walk up those things all of the time. I asked him why he never walks up the handicap ramps, and he simply said something to the effect of, "It's almost disrespectful. We have full use of our limbs, yet we are too lazy to take the stairs."
What I think I love the most is that his morals are not forced on others; he doesn't stand at handicapped ramps and with picket signs saying, "Respect the quadriplegics. Take the stairs!" His actions - most often demonstrated silently-- promote his causes.
How he's made me a better person:
I no longer walk up handicap ramps.I try to keep my apartment emaculant. He bought a book about cleaning, and he was so excited about putting these rules into practice. He would occasionally call me in the wee hours of the morning to tell me that a toilet is supposed to be cleaned everyday; you should change your dishrag daily, and if you don't then you should soak it in bleach and at least change it weekly; you should vacuum daily; and every morning when you wake up [possibly while you shower] you should pull your covers back and air our your room by opening a window.
First, I thought he was nuts for calling me so early to tell me these things, but then I realized that if he was calling me at seven in the morning, that means he was up cleaning at seven in the morning. There was action on his end as well.
Because of him, and his book, there was a time [before working fulltime] when I would wake up and vacuum my apartment every morning. Cleaned my toilet every three days. Washed my sheets every week, once every three days on a good week. Cleaned my baseboards with a toothbrush. And inducted into my daily existence a bleach box in which I now keep my dishrag which I try to remember to change out every week.
I began reading the paper. Because of my Dear Brother D, I willingly began to subscribing to USA Today, and then to This Week, a magazine that takes all of the worthwhile news stories from the week and compiles them for people who just don't have time to read a whole paper everyday.
While I no longer receive those subscriptions, I at least read CNN.com or USAToday.com daily to keep up on current events, void of Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, and Tom & Katie.
I make people take off their shoes before walking on my carpet. That has been a rule at my brother's house for as long as I have known him. When I moved into my own apartment here in Houston, I quickly adapted that rule because I wanted to keep my carpet as clean as he kept his [no fees for carpet upon moving out of the apartment]!
While I am not there yet, I have learned that is possible to give 110% at everything to which you place your hands. Everything he does is at "all plus" or nothing: softball, cleaning, teaching, reading, and loving. Sometimes I watch him in awe, wondering how he never tires. Wondering how me manages to give his all at teaching for a bit more than 10 hours a day, then still makes it to the gym to work out, still manages to do everything else he does, and go to be by 10:30 or 11:00pm every night.
My hats off to you Brother D. Thanks for helping me to become a better person. Sister Nix-- great catch!
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