Happy Birthday to You . . .

My brother turned 26 about a week and a half ago. I can't believe it. I still think of him as being the little boy that would irritate the crap out of me. Now I look at him and wonder where that little boy went. When I look at him now I'm stunned to see a man. Wow! When did that happen?

Yesterday, we had his birthday party. My parents had been planning the whole thing for over a month. We had it at a friend's house. They have this incredibly huge backyard with an amazing pool and BBQ island. It's absolutely incredible. They were so kind to allow us to use their backyard for my brother's party. My mom asked J.R. and I to show up early to help with the food. We didn't do anything fancy, just burgers, hot dogs and chips. And of course my mom made the most incredible carrot cake. She replicated my brother's guitar on it and even had the bars of music to "Happy Birthday" on it. It was great. I'm not sure why she wanted us there early because we honestly didn't do anything. But we were there.

I took the opportunity to swim a bit before all the guests arrived. That was really nice. Though remember how I was saying how much my brother has grown up? Well, sometimes brothers are just brothers. From the second I entered the pool my brother continually picked on me, splashing me, dunking me. And because I am no longer the bigger sibling there wasn't a thing I could do about it. I guess it was pay back for all those years I picked on him. I'm sure I had it coming.

Then the time for the party rolled around. That time came and went. And no one showed up. I began to panic a little. I was getting a little nervous and upset. One for my brother. Growing up all we had were the 4 of us. We never had a ton of friends around us. My brother is the exact opposite of me in almost every way. He makes friends extremely easy. The thing is, my brother tends to be a follower and these friends were never true friends and always treating my brother like crap. That always killed me. Because he would go back time and time again to these people that treated him horribly. So I was nervous that once again my brother would be let down by his friends. Two for my parents. I was nervous that they had spent so much money on all that food for people that weren't even going to show up. My heart was beginning to break for them. All the old hurts and fears from friends letting me and my brother down came swooping in.

An hour late, one family finally showed up. I sighed a breath of relief. At least one family showed. Soon after one then another began to show up. My fears were unmerited. Everyone ended up having a great time, especially my brother. I guess no matter how old we get I will always be the big sister and he will always be the little brother.