forty ...

yep he's forty alright... 

happy birthday to the best big brother a girl could ask for.

seriously i've been thinking about this all week.

the list of reasons why you are the best are endless. 

so for this momentous occasion let me just list a few...

you gave me my middle name and i actually like it.

you play guitar.

you were the cool older brother that had a band in our garage.

your band members were really cute.

your name when the first letters are switched is mad chickan.

you taught me the words to my first songs.

my first songs were not nursery rhymes. they were "purple rain"  and "knock knock knocking on heaven's door." 

you had a shiny, red, sparkly weight-lifting bench in your bedroom.

you had a life size cut out of rambo in your closet. 

you made me dream of growing up and having zits just like you.

you were never mean to me.  ever.

you let me hang out in your room.

you, at times, were way to huggy for me.

you gave me nick-names after a supermodel.

it was cool to have the sacker at the grocery store be your brother.

as a college student you came home and hung out with me in the afternoons before going to work

when 90210 came out, it was pretty cool to have a brother that looked almost exactly like "brandon" 

and who also sported sideburns like "dylan."

you wrote me letters when you moved off to college.

you worked at toys r us 

you really did hang up my art in your college apartment.

you got married, giving us the best sister- in- law we could ever ask for.

you took your then awkward fourteen year old sister to an r.e.m. concert and we stood in the front row.

you have given me some of the cutest nieces and a very handsome nephew.

you have always had great taste in music.

you have always dressed really nice.

you took aikido in your thirties and showed us your moves.

you sprinkle holy water around your house when you feel the need.

you have only wanted the best for me.

so much so, a few months before my wedding you still offered to pay for me to take a trip to alabama to visit mother angelica's convent.

you are a great uncle.

you make sure to take time to talk, or play with all of your nieces and nephews individually when we are all together.

you are still cool to me, even though your kids don't think you are anymore.

you have finally accepted the fact that i have my license to drive.

and this year i will work on accepting the fact that my cool big brother is

forty.

happy birthday

i love you!