Twenty-nine years ago today, my who was supposed to be little brother, pushed passed me to become my big brother. Nine minutes later my stubborn self rejoined my bro to be with our big sis and awesome parents. My "big" bro and I grew up side by side, considering he's my twin brother! When we were little bitty kids we always had each other which helped when we had to be in new places because neither one of us cared to leave our Mom! I remember standing beside each other, both crying for our Mom when she dropped us off on the first day of 4 year old Vacation Bible school. It wasn't pretty, but I at least had my bro with me. Then kindergarten started and we didn't shed a tear, but again, we had each other. Now, we definitely were not always two peas in a pod. Nor was that even the norm for us.
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We had our differences. The poor guy had to live with two sisters so he was constantly getting suckered into playing with us. The deal was always "if you play this with me, then I'll play that with you"....I'm really not sure how many times I made good on that deal. Sorry, Jon. But he had his moments too. I strictly remember (which he won't, I'm both of our childhood memories' keeper) the time that he told me we were playing cowboys and Indians. He handcuffed me to the swing set and went on his way. Or the time we were five or six and he started screaming hysterically and ran towards the house...so I naturally did the same not even knowing what was wrong. When he finally could make words through his hysterics it turns out he was running from a spider...that was ON ME! I think we about gave Mom a heart attack. He was too scared to get it off of me. I still have a fear of spiders...*shuttering*. He was a great bro when he wanted to be (or when Mom and Dad didn't give him another choice) like when I couldn't sleep if my sister was on a sleepover so he had to sleep in the room with me. I remember him doing that lots of times for me. Like most brother/sister relationships, ours was up and down growing up. The teen years we had the same friends, but we were very different people and did a lot of our own things. He was smart and athletic, I wasn't "not-smart" but I wasn't borderlining genius like the twin and forget sports. I'm too clumsy! We split up for college. He knew exactly where he wanted to go and exactly what he wanted to do. I was somewhat lost, didn't have a clue, and just kind of going with where ever and whatever I felt at the moment. It took me a little bit longer than him to figure it out and we didn't see each other much for the first couple of years. But after a few years of maturing, being away from each other, and discovering ourselves, I feel we found we had a lot more in common than we had differences.
This past year I feel so honored to have been able to share with my brother the experience of becoming a parent to a daughter. His daughter, Lucy was born only a couple days more than 6 weeks after the birth of my daughter, Isabel. It's been joked that the twins each had a twin. I hope that the girls will have a special, close friendship much like sisters have. And I'm excited to learn how to parent a rebellious teenage girl alongside him. Or maybe I'm just glad we can all support each other when our daughters start to scare us!
I really look up to my big brother. Really, he's tall! And even though I'm "grown" myself. I value his opinion and his insight. I think that he's one of the smartest,trustworthy, honest people I know and I really admire him. He's accomplished so much already. He gives everything that he does 110%. He committed to running a half marathon with me when he had made it clear before that he was not a runner. I think he did it just because I asked. He not only completed the race, but made amazing time! He had no choice but to give his all and then some because that is his hardworking nature. Without him I would never have pushed myself and lived up to my potential in anything growing up, and whether he knows it or not he continues to push me to make me better. As with the half marathon that he did awesome in, I wouldn't have been able to reach my goal of accomplishing that race without his encouragement, generosity, and motivation. That is only one example of what he has done for me. The examples are endless.
I'm so appreciative! It is such a blessing that he married such an amazing woman who I get to call my sister! And together they have created a beautiful, loving family along with their sweet Lucy. They have an incredible faith and love for God that is inspiring. Not to mention they are a blast to be around! Jon is the quiet type that can SURPRISE you when he busts out his awesome dance moves or catches you off guard with his wit. Of course he's stubborn and he will tell you like it is. But who isn't like that in my family! Honesty is important anyway. 
So here's the part where I want to leave a special message to my twin bro on our 29th birthday:
WARNING: It may get mushy.
Jon, I couldn't have asked for a better brother, even better, twin. We may not have a twin connection all of the time, but you have to admit when we have those twin moments (although slightly creepy) its pretty cool! I can't even imagine my life without having had you by my side, leading me, or pushing me to be better. I know that those times you may have been hard on me were either sibling rivalry, jealously (obviously because of my awesomeness), or mostly because you saw something in me that I didn't see. I am so happy to see the wonderful, happy life you have made for yourself. I know that you've had to work for everything that you have, and you are succeeding tremendously. My little family loves yours so very much and we want you to know that we are ALWAYS here, not too far way, if you ever need anything. Something I love most about you is that you and Lisa are two of the most selfless people I have ever met. You are always giving of your time and energy to anyone and everyone. You also are able to balance making time for each other and lots of time for your little girl. You are such an amazing Daddy and it has been so amazing seeing you play this role. Thank you for always letting go and being yourself no matter what anyone might think. I admire that a LOT. I also appreciate so much the fact that any time I come up with some crazy party theme, you always put your all into it, even if you aren't looking forward to it or are very hesitant to do so! I thank God that he gave me you as my brother. Because you are the BEST BRO EVER!!!
By the way...thanks Mom for your facebook picture posts. You made my picture additions super easy on me! You ROCK!
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