My Brother's Girls - (Getting Real Personal Here) - Personal Thursday
I was born into a family of 5 kids in total. My oldest brother Andres, was more like a father to me. We didn’t have that brother-sister relationship, he was more protective and corrective of me. Growing up he did more disciplining than hanging out with me, but that’s how we were. He was also the head of the family, and what he said is generally what we did. He knew best. He married his childhood love and was with his first love up until the day he died. They had two gorgeous girls together, A&A. They are his girls, but they are also my girls, and like daughters to me.
Before he passed in 2014, he traveled some. And shared with his wife that one of his favorite cities was Pittsburgh. Now, I’m not entirely sure when he visited, or for how long he visited. But after his death, there was one photo that everyone in our family immediately downloaded and treasured. He was in the Pirates stadium, standing in a white shirt with his signature hat on.
Since the girls spend the summers with me, we travel. Coming back from our Canada road trip with A&A this summer, we made a “Pitt” stop (get it?) in Pittsburgh. We didn’t do much, we were exhausted. But the girls wanted to try and recreate their dad’s famous photo.
So off we went to get ourselves some Pirates hats and find the location where their dad stood all those years ago.
Photography of Andres by: Unknown.
Photography of A&A&A by: Carol Solorzano
Now, the signs have changed. And although the staff at the stadium were amazing at trying to help us find it, we didn’t find the exact one- they showed us where it used to be. But now is a great big photo of a great big player.
Of course, Andres (named after his uncle) had to get into a photo. My brother’s girls have now become his girls and he adores them.
