Personal
My life away from the keyboard
I grew up in Wynne, Arkansas, the son of schoolteachers Larry and Mary Bob Brawner. My perfect little brother, Jeff, became a missionary, and he’s a better tennis player too.
My wife, Melissa, and I met during a job interview: hers. I was editor of the Malvern Daily Record newspaper, and she was a 19-year-old college student seeking an internship. I hired her and then, two years later, married her. We soon settled in Bryant, Ark., a suburb of Little Rock.
We have two daughters: Mattie, 7; and Abby, 4. Mattie is thoughtful, creative, and independent. I learn more from her character than she learns from me. Three years later, Abigail Elise was born. Abby captures every room she enters. Everywhere I go, I’m Abby’s daddy; it surprises me sometimes how many people know her and love her.
Writing is my job, but being a dad is my purpose. It is the most difficult job I will ever have, but its rewards far outweigh its demands. I recently was lying sick on the couch, the result either of a stomach virus going around town or a bad taco I never should have eaten. Mattie asked me what my favorite food was, and when I couldn’t come up with one, she returned with a spoonful of peanut butter topped with M&Ms, one of my favorite snacks. Sure, she was trying to please me, but her eyes bore a look of such sincerity and concern that I knew she had done it out of love.
Two final daughter stories, and then I’ll shut up. Mattie was at a church camp recently eating lunch with Melissa when she noticed that a younger child was being purposely and physically excluded by some older kids. She watched it a while and then scampered off and invited the younger child to play with them, and soon they were running and laughing and playing together. Within a day or two, Melissa was with Abby in a restaurant waiting to pay for a meal she was taking out. She saw that Abby was leaning around the counter and peering at an older gentleman who was eating by himself. Without warning, she broke away from Melissa, ran to the man, hugged his leg, and cheerfully said, “Hi!” The man brightened at the intrusion into his lonely lunch, and Abby had brought yet another smile into the world.
