So Many Things

We have so many things that we still want to say

Those go on and go on, and we can’t sing all day.

So instead, we will do our best to speak from our heart,

But who the hell knows where to begin? Where to start?

Though you are the youngest, from you we have much to learn,

You have excellent taste, for which we all yearn.

And by excellent taste, we mean anything expensive

For the a ‘fine-shmeker’ you are finds cheap things
offensive.

At Payless, for instance, where our shoes we go buy

You spit in disgust, glance away and then sigh.

Perhaps in Nordstrom, you’ll find something nice?

Though something from a catalogue online would suffice.

We should learn from you that presents should be hoarded

No holiday or birthday, goes by unrecorded

Come summer vacation, when Ima thinks she’s in the clear,

You come with demands, which you’ve saved up all year.

Only you have the will power, to delay your pleasure,

Knowing that if you wait a bit longer, you’ll double your treasure

Can you also please teach us to play all your tunes?

Guitar, french horn, and piano on late afternoons.

We’ll save the mornings for the sax and the flute,

For practicing three hours you deserve a salute!

And how do you get Osmo to forgive you, after you guzzle his drinks?

You drink all your Gatorade and then gulp down his when he blinks.

Let us know how a strawberry dipped in <i>wassabe</i> you managed to eat,

For the single dollar we offered – I’d say it was an impossible feat.

A cruel combination, but a true story still,

We’re sorry you ate it, and became quite ill.

So we ruined sushi for you, but beef you still like,

Tony Roma’s, you want? Or a hunger strike?

You’re going to need a much stronger case

That includes something other than sauce on your face

Even now, after you’ve been Tony Roma’s deprived

It seems that somehow you actually survived!

Please teach us your ways, of how you always win,

Even when Ima is fuming, you can get her to grin.

How? We all ask, a minute ago she could kill…

It’s a wonder how charm becomes a lifesaving skill.

I suppose that your humor is an unteachable trait

So we’ll leave the jokes to you; you were the funny one since you were eight!

Your wisdom is also a quality that is rare,

You know when to glance, when to look, when to stare.

You know whose buttons need not be pressed

And when to back off, when your siblings are stressed

We rapidly adopted ‘qualie’- your greatest invention

It’s brilliance is completely beyond comprehension

The best way, by far, to discuss what went on in our day,

It is our time to catch up, to laugh, and to play.

Though you’re always in the middle, and this you’ll deny

But since you’re the creator, you can have it, no lie.

Unfortunately you’re stuck with three siblings that are older,

In order to sit shotgun, you’ll have to be bolder.

The law of seniority is one set in stone,

And knowing us, we probably won’t throw you a bone.

But we aren’t too worried, knowing how stubborn you are,

If you set your mind to something, we know you’ll go far

(even, in time, sitting in the front seat of a car)

Tin Tin you know, you’ll always be seven to us,

Even on your bar mitzvah, we’ll make the same fuss.

We will try our best, and try to learn how you do what you do,

We probably wont succeed, but in any case, just know we love you.