little bitty girl

My brother Kelvin just reminded me that I haven't done my annual birthday tribute for my brother, Ken. Man, everytime I write our names, I am always embarassed that we are all "K" names.

Anyway, Ken and I almost share a birthday and I would like to say that we have been close because of it, but this was not true until I was in my late teens. I think because we liked being a pain in each other's ass too much with our 6 year age difference.

My mum always insisted that I call both my brothers "Koko" which means "older brother" in Chinese, to show respect. I resented that I, the youngest had no such title simply by virtue of birth. Poor Kel was always called little Koko, because Ken was the Koko. He's always been our leader in all childhood escapades. I don't really know why we look up to him so much. To us, he was always smarter, better looking, more talented.

He's our family voice of reason. We all tend to be over emotional with one another. Mum will call me if she's mad at Kel or my dad, start yelling and vice versa. We usually call Ken as a last resort, only because he'll always tell us the truth - that we're overeacting as usual and can he get back to whatever he's doing now. Then we all put ourselves together and I have a loud hilarious laugh over it all.

My favourite thing to say to him is, "You're terrible Muriel" a la Muriel's wedding. Because he is very much like Muriel - unafraid to go for what he wants, always willing to go against the tide and I love him for it.