Video transcript
When I was a child I never knew what it was like to be lonely. I didn't have an older
brother or sister to look up to or a younger sibling to pick on but I wasn't an only child. I
had Michael.
2 weeks before I was born my Mam was given the most frightening news she had ever
had in her life. She was expecting twins. 14 days later Michael and I came into the
world. We were 9 minutes apart but after that together for most of our childhood.
When we were small we didn't have a great deal of our own toys to play with. What we
did have we often shared. We rarely argued over stuff because we knew the best things
we had were the ones we could use together.
My dad would take us both to visit my Gran on a Sunday morning. She would most
likely be baking or watching the snooker on the television. My Dad would sit and read
the Sunderland Echo from the day before. Michael and I would often be found playing
with things our Gran had around the house.
The best thing she had was an old tape recorder. It was a large, heavy rectangular
block made from black plastic, wood and metal. Michael and I had loads of fun using
the small Microphone found at the top of the machine.
Our tiny fingers would push the heavy play button and record button together and we
would make up stories, sing themes songs to TV shows and pretend to be on the radio.
We would laugh hysterically and playfully fight over who's turn it was to have a go. It
was amazing listening back to our voices and the silly childish things we would say.
As we became teenagers our lives moved apart in different paths, We had different
interests, studied different things and took different opportunities. Both of us started to
live our lives independent of each other.
25 years later. Michael lives in Carlisle with his new family, Emma and Ben, and I live in
Seaham with my wife Marie. I have recently started using video conferencing on my
home computer so that I can talk to him. We will sit a chat for hours talking to each
other through the little microphone on the Webcam, often laughing and joking and
saying silly childish things to each other. Deep down I think we are still those 2 children
playing with our Gran's tape recorder.
How lucky you are to have that tape! As a mother of twins myself, I know how special that bond can be. You clearly treasure the relationship you have with your brother and it's so nice to see that you are still close as adults.Posted on 10/11/2009 at 08:03:49
Boy that rlealy helps me the heck out.Posted on 04/10/2011 at 10:05:36
I went to tons of links bfeore this, what was I thinking?Posted on 07/10/2011 at 06:13:05