Having my brother-in-law John living with us this summer has been an unlooked for blessing. He’s been with us for a little over 4 weeks now, occupying the second bedroom, hanging out with us, jogging on the lake, reading tons and tons, and (this week) starting a summer job at Crate & Barrel before going back to Wabash College in the fall for his senior year.

I’m so glad things have worked out this way, because with the age difference between John and my husband, John was only 9 or 10 when my husband moved away to go to college. So with this summer situation, they are finally getting a chance to get to know each other as adults.

They are both passionate readers of non-fiction, interested in philosophy and history, and love to talk about all of these things.

It’s great that John can engage my wonderfully smart spouse in all things academic, because sometimes I can find these topics a little . . . dry. Not always! But sometimes.

Dry? my husband asks, furrowing his brow. But I don’t understand . . .

*I refer anyone with questions back to my fiction vs nonfiction post from the days of the dawning of this blog.*

John is also an avid, willing, and gracious dish-doer. When he hears me clunking around in the kitchen, suddenly he’s there at the sink, washing whatever I just dirtied.

And not only does he wash, but oh baby–he also dries and puts away. And he does all of this completely unbidden.

It’s like a kitchen miracle.

The other day, when my husband was out of commission with a fever, holed up in our darkened bedroom, John helped me make dinner for my bandmates Eric and Carrie, plus our friends Zane and Julie. After dinner, Zane, Eric, Carrie and I gallivanted off for a band photo shoot (Zane is an amazing photographer–I can’t wait to show you all the awesome shots he got). After the salad, the bread and cheese, the pasta and the bolognese sauce, there were piles upon piles of dishes. “John, don’t worry about this–I’ll get it when I come back from the photo shoot,” I assured him.

John then proceeded to clean the entire kitchen while we were off taking pictures.

What a guy–some girl is going to count herself blessed among women.

Anyway, we don’t just keep him around for his dish-doing capacities. He and my husband have been bonding over . . . guess what . . .

. . . no, not beer . . . no, not grilling or tossing around a pigskin or whatever male people sometimes do, but over . . .

. . . tea!

Almost every evening, and frequently two or three times throughout the evening, they brew tea in a teapot. Sometimes they’ll read, or talk, or sit on the couch, but one day I came home after dinner with some girlfriends to this adorable vision. The boys had set up John’s radio, and were playing checkers, listening to the radio, and drinking tea.

A sweeter sight I have never seen.

I think I’ll keep them both around.

Love,

The Girl Who Beat the Boys at Clue Master Detective Before John Even Made it into a Room to Make his First Guess

(sorry, just had to sneak that in there)