The nation has been looking forward to this day for months. Or is it just the people who live in swing states? I live in Virginia, so my mail has been full of political flyers, and I haven’t seen a commercial for Ranch dressing since August.
Everyone in the United States has also been inadvertently counting down to my brother’s birthday. My brother, David.
He’s awesome (and handsome, right?)
Those are just two of the reasons I named my son after him.
We’re five years apart, which must be the perfect age difference to be best buddies growing up, because we were.
When he was like 3 and I was like 8 he wanted to pretend he was my dog. I named him Fritos, but he couldn’t say Fritos so he said “Frudles”. To this day my mom fusses at me for making him “be my dog”. But I didn’t and he sticks up for me, but mom still insists.
My favorite thing in the world used to be running around in the woods pretending I was riding horses. David would go with me and pretend he was Leonardo, my Ninja Turtle security guard.
I could tell adorable childhood stories like this for hours, but they aren’t the whole story.
There are also plenty of “older sister” stories, too. Brothers tend to torture younger siblings with their muscles; sisters torture psychologically.
Once my sister and I convinced David he was deaf. All we had to do was mute the TV, mouth words, and periodically answer the phone when it didn’t ring.
We also woke him up once on a random day and told him it was Christmas. So when he sprinted into the living room and didn’t find presents, we told him it was because he was bad.
He laughs when tells these stories now, which is evidence that he’s grown into a forgiving man.
He’s also grown into a respectful man of character and integrity. He loves the Lord and is selfless and kind.
However. Last year I gave him a copy of East of Eden by John Steinbeck — which I believe is one of the greatest books ever written — and even though he LOVES to read, it hasn’t shown up as a book he’s read on his GoodReads list yet.
I suppose I can forgive him.
David has grown up, he’s 25 today. It’s sort of hard for me to believe. These days it would probably be much harder to trick him into thinking he was deaf.
But some things haven’t changed. David used to have nightmares when he was a kid, and I’d go into his room and get in his bed and calm him down. And I’d always always tell him, “David I love you forever.”
So, he’s probably grown out of the nightmare thing, but, David: your big sister loves you forever.
And today, I vote for you to have a great birthday.
DAVID 2012!
This was adorable. I vote for David too. 🙂
sweet!