Q. Am I really going to share that story?
A. N.B.
(For Lent, I've decided to write 40 posts about people I love / made me who I am / thankful to know / appreciate)
And now we've arrived at the baby of this family from Prospect Heights: N. I should also mention that all three kids now have advanced college degrees. One has a masters in physical therapy, one is a doctor of optometry, and this "baby" has a masters in architecture.
The kid's flat out goofy. A hilarious mind. If I get crazy rich, he will design a custom home for me. It'll probably have trap doors leading to slides and hidden trampolines. The following story says nothing of his character, but I laugh out loud every time I think of it...
I think I was 19 or 20 at the time, which places N at roughly 13 at the time of this story. A bunch of cousins (of their family, not mine) had driven up from Louisiana. We went to a standard issue museum in Chicago. Of course I tagged along. It didn't matter that I had been to that museum on countless prior field trips, and there was nothing new for me to see there. Just knowing that all of us (The B family kids and I) going to a place like that was going to produce something.
We're in an exhibit that was called "Gold from the Kremlin" or something of that sort. Me and N were looking at a bedazzled cauldron. N had to sneeze. However, he was holding a shopping bag for his Mom in one hand, and the portable cassette player (containing the audio tour of said exhibit) in his other. This prompted him to just turn his head away and sneeze out into the open.
He didn't realize that a very small Asian girl was literally under his nose. It was easily one of the more disgusting sights I've ever seen. However, I wasn't mature then (and obviously not now), and to see that poor girl have to wipe a load of snot off her face with her full hand made me laugh uncontrollably.
All N could say was, "sorry" in a very humbling tone. His apology could not have had much weight with his friend being as hysterical as I was beside him.
So there you go:
A man with a masters degree that he worked very hard to attain.
A man who has actually landed a job at an architecture firm when half of his class still hasn't.
A man who has the artistic ability to actually draw things that look like what they are.
A man who taught himself, from the Internet, how to play the guitar to the point he can recreate songs from the radio by ear.
A man who loves his family, and is a cherished younger brother.
Yet I chose to share a story involving his germ warfare on an unsuspecting foreigner.
Sorry N.
