Fabian.
Jeremy's son. Four years old. Likes ribs, trains, the color orange and the dog he only knows from photos. The one person in Jeremy's life he has not yet figured out how to show up for, and the only one he is trying to.
A complicated thing, said simply
Fabian Alan Garber was born in 2022, a year before the first GarBBQ opened. He has therefore never known a father who was home. He has known a father who calls from a smoker in Denver, who mails a signed menu from Las Vegas, who flies in for thirty-six hours and cooks ribs at midnight because the kid asked for ribs.
Jeremy does not pretend this is fine. Chapter eleven of Kid Brother, the one he rewrote nine times, is about the night he realized he had opened a tenth restaurant and attended one of Fabian's four birthdays. "I spent my whole life being the kid nobody showed up for," he writes. "I am terrified I have built a life where I am the one who doesn't show."
What Fabian knows
Fabian knows his dad is famous because strangers say so at the grocery store. He knows Boukzam from a photo on the fridge and a stuffed dog that is, by now, mostly tape. He knows that when the GarBBQ sign shows up on TV, that's Dad's. He does not really know who Uncle Scott is. He does own several onesies with opinions about him, and he has seen the family album, and he has formed, at four, the same view his father holds. Jeremy maintains the onesies were gifts from franchise partners. The franchise partners have not been identified.
The promises
Jeremy keeps a list on the back of his phone case. He showed it to Sunday Table and then asked them not to print it. He has agreed to print it here, because Fabian cannot read yet and will one day be able to check.
- Every birthday from now on. In person. No exceptions, no tour stops, no openings.
- Home for a full week every month, phone in a drawer.
- Fabian picks the city for one tour stop a year and comes along.
- No eleventh restaurant until Fabian starts kindergarten.
- Teach him the garage sauce before anyone else gets it.
Fabian's Corner
At every GarBBQ there is a small table near the pit with a crayon menu, a train set and a photo of a dog. It is called Fabian's Corner. Kids eat free there on Sundays. It is Jeremy's way of being in ten places he isn't, for one kid who is in none of them.
"My brother taught me what it feels like when someone who's supposed to be there isn't. I am not going to be the one who teaches Fabian."Jeremy Garber, Kid Brother, chapter eleven
- Born
- 2022
- Age
- 4
- Favorite food
- Ribs, no sauce
- Favorite color
- Orange
- Birthdays Dad attended
- 1 of 4 (so far)
- Fabian's Corners
- 10, one per pit
- Onesies with opinions
- 4 and counting
- Opinion of Uncle Scott
- Thumbs down
211
Days Jeremy has slept somewhere other than home this year. He keeps the count public on purpose. "If I'm going to miss things, I'm going to be honest about how many."
Fabian, dressed by his father.
Jeremy picks the shirts. Fabian's mother picks which photos get published. Both have veto power. Only one uses it.
Home for 36 hours. Fabian wanted ribs. Fabian got ribs.
@jeremy__garber
Fabian's Corner is at every GarBBQ.
Kids eat free at the little table by the pit on Sundays. Bring yours.