California, here I come (not)

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Yesterday afternoon, I dropped off Ayumi and Julian at the station for the ferry shuttle to Kansai airport. This morning (Japan time), after an overnight flight to SFO, they arrived in Davis, CA, where Ayumi is conducting some research, and Julian is finding out something new.

Something really new. For this is the first trip, the first experience, that he will have that his older brother has not already known, and cannot be wiser about.

It must be hard to be a second child, I think. Clothes are not the only hand-me-downs, events and situations can come pre-worn as well, minus the cellophane wrapping, the gloss that attaches to an experience when you are the first of your siblings to touch or taste ir, see and hear what you have only previously known from tv.

When Julian comes home, and says "Sean, Sean, you'll never believe .....", there can be no deflationary "Yeah, I know, so what...".

I guess I was like Sean too: I never realized until now how much of a privilege it is to be the eldest, to walk in front.

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