Samuel

Another month another sibling getting married. That seems to be the Robison way as of late. With the successful familial transfer of my sister having taken place last month, I now prepare to be arguably the second most important person in the my brother Sam's wedding: one of like 15 groomsmen.
   
It's going to be a beautiful ceremony, I hear August in the middle of the desert is the perfect season and location for an outdoor afternoon wedding.  Ah, Hemet California, where dreams dreams of moving out of Hemet are born. I warn all those that might be in attendance that my pants will not match the rest of the groomsmen, as the 16 year old working at Forever 21 informed me that they would have to send someone into the basement to see if they had one size under what I actually wear. It took all of 20 seconds in the plus size sections changing room to determine that I would have to purchase my blue chinos elsewhere, namely Costco. In my defense, the plus size section of Forever 21 is primarily for people that eat on a regular basis, and as I have a slight fondness for not being hungry, I was the ideal candidate. But this isn't about me, it's about Sam, and his bride. I will, as far as I know, not be giving a toast at the wedding. For this reason I am branching out to my personal blog, where my mother and a complete stranger from the Netherlands will reminisce with me.

Samuel was the first at home birth in our family. He began the glorious tradition of having movie nights at the neighbors and coming home to a new sibling. Sam was the first little brother I had, and Julie and I wasted no time in using him for the scape-goat tendencies that he was born for. As he grew we quickly learned that he had this inner fire that burned when provoked; and he provoked easily. He was the closest thing to The Incredible Hulk the Robison clan had. If one was capable of making him angry enough, he would charge at you in a blind rage, to the detriment of both his head and whatever piece of furniture you happened to be standing behind should you be quick enough to move out of the way. The memories of playing "bull fighting" with the new little brother are fond ones. A Doctor once confirmed that red dye# 40 acted as a catalyst to his hyperactivity The bull fights could commence on a whole new level now that we had a mixture of allergic reaction, competitiveness and pure, unadulterated rage at our command. It was an odd personality trait for the individual that played the part of Baby Jesus in our home Christmas Pageant just years before.

All that to say, he learned to contain that rage. I laughed about it, probably a lot more than I should have, because he operated on a level of frustration that I simply couldn't comprehend. So, when he learned to control that, over time with both my mother and the Lord's help, I gained an admiration of him that has stuck with me to this day. Samuel is competitive and generally good at what he competes at. While a lot of that is natural talent, more of it is something that's even more admirable; hard work and determination. Those qualities mixed with a complete and utter reliance on Jesus Christ are a more than decent starting place for his marriage, at least on his end. The other half of this union is Jocelyn, a woman that professes to love Samuel, but more so loves Jesus. The elements are all there for a lasting and powerful marriage that can, and I believe will be, used to further the kingdom of heaven.

So if Sam is The Incredible Hulk, then I guess Jocelyn is his Black Widow... Assuming I'm interpreting the relationship right based on the vaguety of that Age of Ultron sub-plot.