Chippewa Valley 5ive for Women The Chippewa Valley’s Premier Magazine for Women!
Related Articles
As a little girl, I dreaded teachers, coaches, or camp counselors asking my peers and me to share “Fun Facts” as an icebreaker. My peers would share about vacations to Disney World, swimming with dolphins, or attending professional sporting events—all very “fun” facts. When it was my turn to share, I would freeze, then give my default answer: I have four brothers…no sisters. Numerous blank stares were often the response. Turns out the other third graders thought Disney world was more “fun.”
Nevertheless, I continued sharing this fact—fun or not. Now, at 22 (somehow still finding myself in situations where “fun facts” are shared), I still choose to talk about four of my favorite guys. I could go on forever (ask my friends) about each of them; but as one of them prepares to graduate high school, I feel it is fitting to remind him and share with all of you how special he is.
August, Gus Gus, Goosey, Auggie Doggy, or simply Gus, is the original baby of the Theisen crew. (Quinn is now around to take that title, but “Baby Gus” will always be my favorite nickname for my third brother.) I was three-going-on-four when I learned about Baby Gus. With one older brother and one younger brother, I was banking that our new baby would be my little sister. I wasn’t the only one. Convinced this baby would be a girl, my parents already had a name picked out for “her.” To everyone’s shock, as our family of five piled into the ultrasound room, we discovered our new baby was a boy. Later that day, my dad found me hiding in my bedroom with big crocodile tears running down my face. I sniffled and explained that I wanted our baby to be a girl, “I never get a little sister.”
A few months later, Baby Gus was born. I instantly fell in love with my new brother. I remember being so proud to be his big sister.
Growing up, Gus was always my little buddy. I remember convincing him to let me dress him up in my old dance costumes and be an actor in my “music videos.” As we grew older, I had to get more creative with how I would spend quality time with Gus. When I think of my favorite times spent with him, I think of working out together, driving to Sunday dinners at our gram’s house, watching him run track, and seeing him play football. My friends often remind me of the times I would stream his football games and make sure every boy at our college bar knew that my “little” brother could squat more than them. (That would be 535 lbs.—I bet the boys, really enjoyed that “fun fact.”)
Although I am proud of Gus’s athletic and academic accomplishments, I am most proud of the person he is. Watching him interact with friends, coaches, and our youngest brother, Q, reminds me that “Baby Gus” is not so much of a baby anymore. He is patient, determined, respectful, kind, and humble. (He will probably hate it when he finds out I’m writing an article about him.) He is strong in his faith and protects the ones he loves over anything.
So, I guess it all worked out. If Gus had been a baby sister, I wouldn’t have such a “fun fact” to share. That proud-big-sister feeling has stuck around all these years, and I am confident it will only grow stronger as Gus leaves home and starts college next fall.
