My brother rocks.

My "little" brother is awesome. He really is. As much as I didn't like him when my parents brought him home from the hospital, over the years I changed my mind and decided he is a keeper. His birthday is just over a month away so I thought I would write this to let him know how much I love him. After all, he bite on my hint of him stopping and buying me cherries today even though he didn't have the time. I felt guilty and said never mind, but the sweet little brother was still there after all the years.

I believe I was meaner than the normal big sister. I was truly rotten to him growing up. Yet as adults he still talks to me (well, when I can catch him on the phone he does). Honestly if he had grown up and told me to drop dead I wouldn't have been surprised. Sad, yes. Surprised, not one bit.

But he has grown up and he gets to do all sorts of awesome things that married mommies at this house don't do. He lived in NYC for more than a year. He worked 300 hours a week to live in a crappy apartment, but hey he lived in NYC! He moved out of our parent's home and lived on his own. He may have moved back in with the parents once (or is it twice?) but he lived on his own. With roommates who were in a band. With an ex. And now alone!! He ignores our parents more than me and doesn't let them bother him as much as I do (or at least I think he does). He has a job he likes, even though he doesn't make a ton of money, and that is ok with him. I admire him for all of these things and much more. Oh I can't forget he is an awesome Uncle. My kids adore him.

He has always written "stuff", I can't tell you what though because until he was published I wasn't allowed to read his stuff.*** But he got a job where they hand over money for the words he strings along into stories. Reviews really. Reviews of theater productions in our city. And I am very proud of him for what he has done with his writing. I love to read his articles and I scour each edition of the paper he writes for, looking for his name. I was so excited the first time I saw his name in print. The little boy I used to tease, all grown up and official!

If you are interested you can read his writing here. Search for Rob Tennant.

And Reebert, I love you. Thank you for being my little brother

Heather

*** I have long joked that the only way I was ever going to see anything my brother had written was going to be when he was published. Once it was available to the entire world he couldn't stop me from reading his stuff. Funny how that ended up being the truth!