Big Sister will be Watching Over You

This weekend, we got to meet "the girlfriend."

Marcus denied for quite some time that he had a girlfriend, even though every time I talked to him on the phone, she was around.

I don't blame him. My family is pretty crazy. I wouldn't want to expose poor Tasia to us, either.

This weekend, my parents and I visited Marcus at Gumby's. I knew Tasia worked there, also, so I was scanning the place for her. Marcus had told me she had reddish hair. The girl he finally introduced us to did not have red hair. Maybe Marcus is color blind.

We didn't have a whole lot of time to ask her the full twenty questions, so my parents invited Tasia to my annual birthday dinner of lasagne.

I guess things went well. Marcus said she liked us. But we didn't unleash the absolute craziness. Just wait until she visits for Christmas. If that doesn't scare her, she's probably a keeper.

Everyone asks me if I liked Tasia. And my answer is always "I don't know."

For one thing, it's not like I spent a whole lot of time to figure that out.

For another, I think it's hard for me, because I've always been really protective of Marcus. He may tell you otherwise, since I've been the cause of many of his past injuries. But when it really came down to it, I was always looking out for him.

During thunderstorms, I would lie awake, thinking about what I would do if lightning hit our house. I would think of how I would have to jump through the flames in the hallway and then use the chair in his room to bust out his window so we could jump to safety.

I guess I thought my parents could fend for themselves.

As we got older, I tried to get him to learn from my mistakes. I gave him all sorts of sage advice.

Not that he ever listened.

It's not that I dislike Tasia. It's just that I'm thinking of all the things that could go wrong. I'm theorizing all the ways she could hurt him.

I should like her. She seems nice. She is a Sooners fan. She likes candy. And she really seems to like Marcus, and that's what matters, right?

I guess he can keep her. After all, somebody's gotta do his dishes!