Three-Oh

I've done a lot of gushing about my brother this week, so I'll keep it short. This is the year my brother and sister (ten years apart) reach milestone birthdays, and that means my widdle baby brother turned 30 on Saturday.

Hard to celebrate a birthday with a beautiful two-day old hogging the spotlight, but we managed to get a nice lunch in (thanks to his amazing wife and in-laws.) My brother and I grew up close, despite our 8 1/2 year age difference, and have remained close all these years. I left for college when he was 10, but he visited me in Oregon and I went back home to Central Washington to visit him at school, write notes on napkins in his lunch, and tuck him into bed at night with kisses and songs. He really does mean the world to me, and all those years I spent hoping that he would grow up to be strong and confident and responsible and kind? Well, all that has happened and then some. I love you, baby brother.