There's nothing like family to make lunch delicious

I had the most fantastic lunch today. The food was mediocre and the atmosphere was nonexistent but the company was out of this world wonderful.
My two brothers, Michael and David, came to town and treated me to lunch. They had already eaten and all they ordered was dessert. My husband had papers to deliver so he didn't join us.
We got to talking about our so-called "better halves." Michael is a channel surfer. His girlfriend will tolerate it for so long before yelling, "Stop!" When she demands that he pick a channel, any channel, he will grin sheepishly and quit punching the channel change button.    
My other brother's wife has taken to recording their favorite shows and zipping through the commercials. This would be great except that the commercials are when David wants to talk to her.
The conversation continued with us detailing all the minor irritations that we all live with. Except . . . none of us was irritated with the others. We were laughing at all the similarities and agreed that it was just a part of growing older with someone we loved.  
The topic turned to more serious matters as David related a "Harvey" moment. Harvey was their father and my step-father. David reminded us of when Harvey would sit and watch us kids. He would rock and smile, not saying a word.
David caught himself doing the very same thing when some of his nieces and nephews were visiting last week. He said he now understood what Harvey was thinking at such times and why he looked so contented.
I admitted to trying to remember how things were when my grandmother or our mother was the age I am now. I like to think I am in better shape than they were. Then I wonder if I could re-shingle a barn like my grandmother did when she was my age. No, I'm not telling you how old that is.
Lunch was as easy as walking down a familiar and well-traveled path, with short detours here and there as one or the other of us would relate some new quirk we had developed.
That's the way it is with family. We are a team. We have many of the same memories. I reminded them that Tuesday is Mom's 82nd birthday and that I would be down Sunday to help celebrate.
As the oldest, I am the keeper of the dates. I am the keeper of the oldest memories. I am the keeper of the stories from long ago and not-so-long ago. As such, I need my brothers to feed me new stories and to help me refine the old ones.  
I need them to help me laugh at life. It is rare that only the three of us are together. Usually a spouse, a child or our mother is with us. This was just us; siblings enjoying each other's company.
I hope you have family as comfortable as mine. I hope they come back soon.[[In-content Ad]]