Memories of my baby brother on this, his 30th birthday:
1. The night he was born: I was to hold down the fort for the few minutes until my grandpa arrived to pick us up. It was in the middle of the night, and I woke up my sisters as soon as my parents left. I had to share the great news!
2. My grandma used a yard stick to show me how big he was when he was born.
3. I got to take a picture of myself holding him to school to show all my friends.
4. We flew out of the moving truck together when the door opened. I'll never forget that day!
5. He would try to kiss my friends when I would have sleepovers.
6. I would tell him a wonderful (right, Ken?) story about an alligator to help cheer him up when he was in a bad mood. I can totally see Basia doing the same with her little brothers!
7. He spelled his name with two "n"s back in the day, and it took me longer than anyone else to accept that he changed the spelling down to one.
8. I used money my mom gave me for a sports road trip to buy toys for my little brother.
9. He claimed ownership of my pig without doing any (and I mean any) of the work.
10. I got to help his class on field trips when he was a 4th grader and I was a senior.
11. He loved his sweat pants!
12. He felt pretty cool hanging out with the college kids at camp when he was a preschooler.
13. We got tattoos together.
14. We passed lots of books back and forth.
15. My baby boy was taller than his baby boy at birth, so I won.
OK, so of course there are lots more memories, but I'll share the overall impression. Ken was somewhat younger than I was (let's not get into number specifics, OK?), so he was my little doll. I remember holding him. I remember changing cloth diapers. I remember carrying him around and doing anything he wanted. I remember thinking anything he did was cute, except maybe trying to give sloppy kisses to my friends. I was gone for a lot of his growing up years, so it was a treat to go and watch him play basketball, to watch him graduate, and to have him in my wedding as an honorary usher. We became vegetarians within a month of each other. We spent lots of hours swimming together at his college trailer park since college brought him to live in the same town as me again. We froze to death seeing the luminarias at Christmas time. We sat in the same isle at church again as adults. I would totally live in a hippie commune with him and his family. He hates that I have always emphasized that he is my baby brother, but I am pretty sure that will never change.
Ken(n), you are passionate, compassionate, and an amazing man. I will pretend that having all of us sisters to help
Edited to add: Ooh! I keep having new memories. Remember when you worked at Toys R Us and Brishen and I were regulars? I remember your 'fro!
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