As if I needed another reminder....

....that having a brother or a sister can make hard things that little bit better. Leo was very very down about his broken wrist - this could have been for a variety of reasons - 1) he knows the chances are he isn't going to be playing rugby again (not for this year anyway,) 2) he is starting a new school tomorrow and while he loves to be different from the others in some ways (eg when Harry Potter came out was so peed off with everyone going on about it all the time he went and read Narnia again) he really does not want to stand out with his arm in a cast and not be able to write for 4 weeks (in the Italian school system this broken wrist really does run the risk of having long term consequences - there will be placement tests in the first few weeks and the first impression with a lot of the teachers is so so important -labels are attached!) 3) he can't play his bass guitar or fully participate in scouts etc (what's the fun of going if all you can do is 'talk' - he wants to play scout ball, lug stuff around, etc etc) - anyway, the long and short of it was he had lost all of the sparkle he usually has. But then Thomas came home - the accident happened on Wednesday while Thomas was down in the south of Italy helping his grandfather with the grape harvest - he didn't come home until Friday afternoon - he walked in the door and Leo 'reappeared' - it was like magic - having Thomas back has made the world of difference - and this was just one more reminder of how they will always be able to help each other through the difficulties they will come across in life. And now I'm off to phone my brother.......