"Brothers don't shake hands...Brothers gotta...hug"



Aaron and Finn
8.15.10

I love brothers.  Today, I especially love brothers.  Becasue life is short and fate is fickle and I think we all need to reflect on who we love most in the world and then tell them, out loud, that we are better because of them.

This is my big brother.  He did not let me follow him around when we were little.  I was not allowed to play with his He-Man figures and on the first day of kindergarten, he did not sit with me on the bus.  He called me Grape Legs when I wore my purple tights and gave me a black peppercorn, but told me it was a jawbreaker.  He was "cool" and knew how to expertly roll his pants.  I was a dork, and could never get mine tight enough; they always came unrolled halfway through the day and had to be rerolled.  Everyone knew him and everyone liked him.  He was like Ferris Bueller...and I was Ferris' sister.  Then we grew up.  Aaron graduated and becane a Marine and was gone for 4 years with only sporadic visits home. To my astonishment (and secret delight) he and his wife moved to Minnesota so that he could go to college.  The same college I was attending.  And suddenly we lived 5 minutes from each other.  We chatted between classes on campus and went out for happy hour on the weekends.  I read his papers and he sober-cabbed for his wife and me.  Old animosities were forgotten and I suddenly found myself friends with my own brother.  We still live close to each other and while we don't see each other as much as when we were in college and had zero other responsibilities, when we get together it's still as much fun.


Finn, meet Uncle Dan.
8.01.10


This is my baby brother.  He was my boy from the minute he was born.  I read to him and helped to take care of him.  It was like having a living, breathing doll.  He was my show-and-tell in kindergarten.  He let me dress him up in a dress complete with make-up.  He played Barbies (with his GI Joes).  He broke the arm off of my Ken doll and cried when he told me about it.  I drank beer with him in my dorm room.  He didn't go to college and he's probably one of the smartest guys I know.  He's mostly self-taught (a diploma by way of the History Channel and the Discovery Channel).  He's been a line-cook and a construction worker and he joined the National Guard, not for college money, but because  he's looking forward to being deployed, seeing something different and maybe even making a difference (although I doubt he'd admit that).  He smokes and he drinks and he curses like a sailor.   He wore a tux for our sister's wedding...the first time I've seen him in anything other than khaki pants and a blue dress shirt for any kind of "event."  He has a girlfriend who puts up with him for God knows what reason, but we (my sisters and I) thank the Lord for her pretty much on a daily basis.


They have the same hair.
Finn has that to look forward to!



My brothers have fed my son and rocked him to sleep.  They have changed his pee-pants and snuggled with him.  They have taken a genuine interest in Abby and attended her First Communion and birthday parties and they make a point to talk to her and find out what's going on in her life.  And then they listen to what she has to say.  They let a little girl who has no blood tie to them call them Uncle Aaron and Uncle Dan. 

So, this is for my brothers who have grown up to be good men. 
I love you both.