Getting to know him all over again

My brother Jon is coming home from his mission in Carlsbad, California on the 31st of this month. Which means that since today is the 26th, he will be home in about four days. How exciting! I wish he were stopping in Provo to say hi to the siblings, but I don't think that's going to happen. I really hope that he gets to come to school here in the spring because then we would actually have a chance to get to know him all over again.

We didn't get along really at all before he went on his mission. I love him very much, of course, but I thought he was immature and so was I. Looking back, we were both punks, to say the least. We have both grown a lot and it will be interesting to get to know each other as new people. He has never met Ryan and will get to talk to him on the phone and to see a ton of pictures of us at home in Chicago, I'm sure. He'll have to catch up on all of the latest music and movies, as well as adjust to the cold. He can check out girls without guilt, start playing the euphonium again, and make money. He'll have to see how disappointing it is to observe what his high school friends have made out of their lives, and to see how important the gospel is.

I know this because I have had two other brothers serve their missions, and when they get back it's really exciting but it's like talking to a stranger that you know is your friend and that you're related to. I got to bond with Joe through the Simpsons when he would get back from work at 10 o'clock at night, and Compulsive Indecision with weekly Devotionals and the occasional lunches/dinners. I don't know how Jon and I are going to have that kind of relationship, sad as that is to say. Maybe I'll just have to hook him up with some of my old roommates. They're all cute and one of them has this thing for guys named John/Jon/Jonathan, though she's got a missionary out named Phil.

I think part of this is that I feel that I have nothing to offer him as a person. He has grown a ton spiritually and maybe filled out a little bit physically as well. I have a tv and movies, but so does Una Tontaria. I have a computer but so do my other siblings. I guess I don't have anything that can draw him into my life so I feel like I won't have a chance to get to know him, especially since I'll be moving to Arizona later this year.

I want to be the one to introduce him to campus, to get him a cell phone, to help him find a campus job, to help him find housing, but I don't think that I am necessarily the best one to help him, since most of the stuff I had interest in or appreciated he thought was gay. But that was two years ago. And now I've got a truck. Ha. Beat that.

Anyway, those are my impeding thoughts on the subject regarding Jon. I love him dearly and I hope he figures out what he wants to do in life. It's taken me long enough to find my own path and I wish him luck on his.