It's my birthday and I'll blog if I want to!

Another year, another candle on the cake.  Or, in my case, another walk along a trail.  Thought I would spend my morning on one of the trails here at the lake.  Perhaps I will even put the kayak in the river for a while.  Later today big brother is coming to visit.  Now that's my best present.

Big brother Mike is exactly what every girl wants in a big brother.  He has always had my back even when my choices turned out to be really stupid.  Mike has always defended my right to make those stupid choices.  And he has also been there to cheer me on at the good ones.  I remember the first time I traveled to a conference to present a paper in grad school.  It was one of those scary, grown up moments that we all have to go through.  Luckily the presentation was at UGA and Mike, who probably understood very little of the academia that all us presenters were speaking (it was a sociology/psychology summit), sat through all the presentations and per my instructions, remembered not to applaud at the end of my presentation.  But I could see how proud he was and looking out into the audience to see his smiling face sure did help kill some of those butterflies. 

My first Navy leave was dinner with Mike and Linda and the babies (hard to believe they're now 30 plus) and of course he was there for my graduation from boot camp.  And although he was too far away to attend, he made sure to call and tell me how proud he was at my college graduations (undergrad and grad).  How many times has he taken me to find Georgia geocaches?  Can't begin to count.

Over the years Mike has been there in the best of times and the worst.  When I nearly died from a ruptured appendix in the 70s he somehow found time to get to the hosptial everyday (and I was there a month!).  Throughout my dear husband's illness, despite the 300 miles between us, Mike was there.  Many a time I called him in the middle of the night from Larry's hospital room and he never once checked the caller ID and ignored the call.  In the end he was beside me every step.  What more can a big brother do?

Well, he can make me cry just by writing a few words in a blog.  Yes, my techno-snob big brother has entered the 21st century and is writing his own blog.  And in my own humble opinion, he's doing a delightful job.  He makes me laugh and makes me cry.  Who knew big brother was the writer in the family?  So this birthday I'm spending the day with big brother, and I'm sure we'll be reading about it in his blog.  Hope he doesn't make me cry.