Oh brother... I wish I had one

Did you ever have a day when you wish you had someone to lean on? It doesn't even have to be a tragic day. Just one of those days. When you need someone who's a little bit taller than you, stronger and kind? It can't be someone you're married to because that person is the someone you always lean on. And if your spouse is like my honey, he or she already has a permanent dent where your head usually rests.
So it has to be someone who doesn't often hold you up. Just someone who knows you, loves you, and wants to comfort you for no better reason than because you need comfort. And don't say 'God', because much as I love the Lord, some days it is necessary to feel the palpable strength He provides in the way of a human touch. (I believe this is why God invented massage therapy too.) So it has to be a big, strong person with some vested interest in your peace of mind and not enough day-to-day mingling with your problems to find you annoying. And it has to be someone accessible. And not someone too nurturing or soft. You need someone more stiff and non-maternal. So it has to be a brother.
I always tell my girls "Don't torture your brother. Some day, you'll need him." I wish my mother had thought of that because today, I need mine. I need to tell him I'm worried and have him smile at me and tell me it'll all be alright. I need to whine about my problems and have him give me some smartass response so I forget to be self-indulgent. I need him to smell like cotton and man and faintly like my childhood. I need him to look a little bit like me and have my laugh or something like that. I need my big brother to let me lean on his shoulder while he just sits there waiting for me to get over it all, even if he's holding a remote and not really paying attention. I just need my brother. But I don't have one of those.
So, onward, with my head slightly tilted in anticipation of a place to rest where none exists, with my problems firmly planted on my own two shoulders, and my thanks to that benevolent God for granting me the blessing of giving my girls the brother I never had. I could receive no greater comfort than that.