A long time ago, I wrote about how much I longed to have a relationship with my one of my brothers. I have always kept that desire pretty close to the cuff, not telling anyone, though Stephen saw right through my “I don’t care if my siblings don’t want me in their lives. Screw them!” attitude. He even went so far as to insist we invite the three brothers who I’ve always adored, but with whom I have never had much of a relationship, to our wedding last month.

Two of the three showed up! In fact, my oldest brother not only showed up, but he did something so genuinely sweet at our reception that I still get all mushy and weepy when I think about it.

The music at our reception was pretty much pre-planned. We knew exactly what we wanted to hear and exactly what we didn’t want to hear that evening. Thank God our DJ was wonderful and when people requested stupid songs, he would deny them and say, “The bride and groom already have the set list picked out! Sorry!” We danced to all our favorites, including Pussy Control by Prince (which was my way of getting Stephen’s family to leave early. Heh).

Anyway, toward the end of the evening, our DJ made an announcement, “Michelle’s brother has requested the following song so that he can dance with his baby sister,” and then began playing “Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton. My brother came to the dance floor, kissed me on the cheek and began waltzing me around the dance floor.

He said some truly lovely things to me during that dance. He said things I’ve wanted to hear my entire life and never thought I’d hear from any of my siblings. He said he was a poor substitute for a dance with our dad, but that he was honored to be there with me. He said he loved me.

Our photographer got some amazing shots of our dance, too. There are shots of me with my head on his shoulder, crying. There are shots of me with my head thrown back, laughing. There are shots of my brother looking at me with genuine affection, smiling and holding me close. There are shots of us hugging one another tightly at the end of the song.

I have many glorious memories of my wedding day. One of the best memories I have involves a five minute dance with my big brother that I’ve been waiting thirty years for.

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