I thought my Daddy was alone, family wise. Day after day, we see other people with their families. A mother, a father, an uncle or two, cousins, a few aunts, even grandparents.Not Daddy. Daddy has a few relatives that we know of. They don't live near us.We have an aunt in Brooklyn, N.Y. (we call her Titi Barbara) she has a husband named Tio Lou and a daughter named Sammi. We also have an uncle named Ben who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., We call him Tio Ben, and that is pretty much our family circle. Oh, let us not forget to mention our family in Puerto Rico. Daddy says he loves them and would like to see them, but PR is so far away and everyone is just so busy. Maybe one day. On our mothers side, what we have is a mystery. She never spoke of them like Daddy speaks of his. We hear of Daddy's side of the family constantly. For instance, Daddy is always saying "I love you" to them after every phone call. You're probably thinking it must be weird to hear two grown men, tell each other I love you, but these grown men are blood brothers. Like, me and Alyssia are. Well, not exactly like Alyssia and I. We are different ages. My Daddy and Tio Ben are the same age. I know, strange. Huh? How could they both be the same age? Were they born at the same time and what does fraternal twins mean? I asked Daddy and he said "Fraternal twins means two separate eggs were fertilized at the same time". I gave Daddy a look that told him "What are you talking about? Eggs? I asked about You and Tio Ben?" He quickly changed his response and said "It's when a mommy carries two babies in her belly at the same time. When they are born, if they look alike, they are identical, if they look different, they are called fraternal. I can explain a lot better when you're older". I love the fact that Daddy tries so hard for us to comprehend what he's trying to explain, even though we haven't a clue.
We don't get to see our family often, due to the fact of distance between us, but when we do, it's like they were never gone. It's great! Just like, how great it is to have our Tio Ben visit. The moment he arrived was like seeing two giants crash into each other as they showed their affection. Daddy was almost crushed by Tio Ben. I would say "and vice versa", but I don't think Daddy could crush Tio Ben with a single hug. They hugged for a long time like we do, when Daddy drops us off at Apple's house in the morning, before he heads to work. Tio Ben is a big man. He looks like a wrestler. Daddy said Tio Ben won almost all the fights they had, when we were younger. He said "it was apart of growing up and Tio Ben won mainly because of his size." I think it's because Tio Ben is soo strong. Alyssia and I were hanging from Tio Ben's biceps and it felt like holding on to a tree limb. He's like our very own Grizzly bear, that lets us brush his hair. It's not long like Daddy's, so it's easier to brush and style, and believe us we brush and styled it.
Last night, Daddy headed to bed early. Daddy's been exhausted lately, so you couldn't blame him. Usually, after everything is taken care of(of course) he puts us in bed before himself. This night was different, this night was special. Daddy went to his room, didn't even say good night, and went to sleep. We didn't mind. Tio Ben was here and awake. I'm sure that's the reason Daddy would do something out of the ordinary, like break our routine. While Daddy slept we did things we could never do at that time of night. Most importantly staying awake. What a gift it was to stay up past bedtime(Thank you Tio Ben). We played with his hair and styled it. We were his "ladies in the hair cutlery." Tio even recorded us for a bit, so he can have some memories to take with him. We had so much fun, Alyssia passed out on the couch, I stood awake. Daddy eventually woke up. He came into the living room, looking a little groggy, picked up Alyssia and carried her off to bed. He then, called my name and said "Ready for bed Maritza?" I replied without consideration of the truth "Yes, Daddy" He smiled, then said "say goodnight to Tio Ben" I turned to Tio Ben, ran to his huge bear hug and said "goodnight Tio Ben".
I would of told him more, but you know how Daddy gets. To have a smile on his face after seeing his princesses, up past their bedtime, awake while the king slept, ruining the routine, Breaking the habit(you get the picture.) is nothing short of a miracle, better yet a miscalculation on Daddy's part. So, I save my thoughts to satisfy my Daddy and my memories of my Tio Ben, knowing this. We love you Tio Ben. We are happy to know, there is someone out in this distrustful world, that truly cares about our Daddy. Someone, who isn't out to get him, jealous of his accomplishments, or envious of his outlook. You say your his twin with a passion of pride that echos "We are closer than brothers. We are twins.We are one." Nothing will ever change that. Like, nothing will ever change the fact that, we are your nieces, we are blood, and we love you. We hope you visit us again. We had so much fun. Thank you.
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