O Brother Here Come Thou

My odd family is well chronicled in this forum. For years, I've heard my friends speak of good times spent hanging out with siblings, going on visits to see one another, etc. It's always seemed so foreign to me. Of course, I have the generation-older brother & sister, but even with my brother Sean, who is a mere two & a half years older, there's really not been a whole ton of chumminess since we got into our teen years.

Not hatred or anything, but (with the notable exception of our love for playing basketball) our interests have diverged over the years to the point where we are living in respective "universes" about as far apart as could possibly be, for two men who are both morally grounded. Trying to keep the characterization fair as possible, he probably considers me an artsy-fartsy, liberal egghead who got "weird ideas" when he went off to college (that part in quotations, a real quote of his, by the way). I have generally regarded him as having a relatively unexamined life, not particularly interested in growing his base of experience & knowledge much beyond his currently comfortable array of life's pleasures, and insular in his worldview, with little regard for the origin or ultimate affect of that which we encounter every day. But we get along (except for, ironically, some blowouts during basketball games), see each other at holidays, and...well, that's just about it.

Within the last year, though, I decided enough is enough and it was time to try and build something a little more substantial. I reached out to him about us getting together to hang out for the weekend. He actually thought it was a good idea, and the ultimate evolution to our planning led us to this weekend. He's swinging by to pick me up from work, and then we'll pretty much hang out till, I'm guessing, late Sunday morning.

Sudden almost panic attack about a week ago: Shit, what are we going to do!?

He doesn't want to drink coffee in a coffee shop! He doesn't want to watch an arthouse film! He doesn't want a cultural tour of Minneapolis! He doesn't want to go on a run or hike!

I don't want to watch Anchorman! I don't want to golf! I don't want to "catch a Twins game"

I'm actually secretly hoping that some substantial conversation can come about this weekend, but seeing as that is something that my relationships with everyone in my family (non Minneapolis family, obviously) have completely, utterly lacked through my entire life, I definitely don't want to set my sights too high. I definitely wanted him up in Minneapolis, rather than going down to hang out in Waterloo/Cedar Falls for a couple of days. Talk about really having nothing to do. Anyway, I've been going dutifully down there to visit for years and years and I think it's time for someone to come up and be in my world for a change.

Still not exactly sure what we're going to do. To weird him out with eclectic activities is not going to be fun for anyone. I was thinking about having him drive us from my work up to my neighborhood by taking a roundabout, leisurely drive along the legendary Chain of Lakes, which almost anyone might find interesting ( I could provide running anthropological and cultural commentary, but there's that thing about weirding him out that I need to keep in mind). Then, maybe to Rix for a nice meal and some beer, the great uniter of men. I was encouraged a few weeks ago when he (in contrast to my dad) did not indicate any particular aversion to craft beer. It's as good a place to start as any.