When Your Brother is “Owly”

In the picture above Leland is in the black watch cap and Oliver is the kid in the bright red sweater with the perpetual smile.

So our oldest son and his wife Elizabeth have three adorable sons, Kyle (K2), Oliver, and Leland.

Our son Kyle calls me Sunday morning and says; “Do you have a minte? I have a story for your back pocket.” I’m all ears. As the story goes–

Leland wakes up in an unconsolable mood on Sunday morning. He’s not at all happy with life. He’s grouchy about the cereal choices. His dad’s sunny banter only drives him deeper into his owly disposition.

Oliver, the next oldest, wakes up most mornings with a half-smile on his face. He enters the room and looks over at Leland as if to say, “What up?”

Leland says; “Don’t look at me.”

Oliver chuckles and settles into the seat in the window where the sun is shining through. He leans back on his chair. Leland knows that one of the house rules is “No Leaning Back On The Chair.” He says; “Don’t lean back.”

Oliver is chill. The smile never leaves his face.

Leland drops his blanket and starts to cry… “…blanket—blanket—BLANKET!…” shouting toward Oliver.

Oliver gets up, walks over, picks up the blanket, hands it to Leland and then he says; “Leland, do you need a hug?”

Without waiting for a reply He hugs his brother for a few seconds.

With his brother’s hug the dark cloud moves from little Leland’s soul and the crabby mood lifts like fog in bright sunlight.

Learn from Oliver. Does someone in your life just need a hug today? You know what to do.

Ken Pierpont
Granville Cottage
Riverview, Michigan
October 14, 2014

BONUS STUFF:

I was looking up Owly and ran across this little exchange on the site of the “Word Detective.” It put a smile on my face so I thought I would pass it on to you NEC (No Extra Charge). Here you are—Thank me later:

“Dear Word Detective: When I was growing up in rural Nova Scotia, my mother often used a word to describe my sister or myself when we were in irritable moods. I have never known how to spell this word, but it sounds like “owly,” as in “Your sister’s in an owly mood” or “Why are you so owly?” Anything you could tell me about this word would be gratefully appreciated! — Lady G.

That’s a good question. Incidentally, of all the possible introductory biographical clauses one could encounter in such a question, “when I was growing up in Nova Scotia” ranks as one of the most evocative and romantic. It’s right up there with “growing up in the Cotswolds” and “as a child on the moors of Cornwall,” and certainly beats my “when I was growing up in suburban Connecticut.” Technically, I suppose I can claim to have grown up in New England, but that’s only sightly better, and whatever faint cachet it confers collapses completely when folks discover that I don’t like seafood.”

—You can read the whole exchange and the witty replies here:
https://www.word-detective.com/2008/09/owly/