Of Bears and Penguins

That little guy is my brother - he is sometimes very serious. He's sitting with my Uncle Jess on a gracious porch in Barnhart, Missouri. That coffee cup that Jess is drinking from is now in my parent's cabinet, my brother and I both like to drink from it when we're home. What you can't see in the picture is that my brother's curls are red.

My big brother's birthday is 10/15! So I thought I'd take a moment to list some really fantastic things about him - since we used to watch David Letterman together (the development of my sense of humor owes alot to Jimmy) we'll go with a top 10.

10. We have a New Years' tradition of beating pie pans - my brother once dragged a date across Houston, just to keep his promise to his baby sister that he'd be home to beat the pans. Just one of the places I learned what a promise meant.

9. He taught me that patience is often worth the pay off - we'd spend hours setting up a whole suitcase of little green army men in his room, in which the frequent mess provided lots of room for trenches and cover, then we'd shoot them with rubber bands.

8. He was always willing to beat Super Mario Brothers' level 3 and then let me keep on playing.

7. The man introduced me to Saturday Night Live.

6. At my first soccer game, when I got conked in the head with the ball, he ran onto the field and picked me up. Also he read to my kindergarten class, which made me roughly the coolest kid ever.

5. He (and his wife) once surprised me for my birthday by driving all the way to Texas.

4. He is the only person who can make me laugh so hard I cry for no reason at all, including inappropriate places like church services and funerals.

3. He can fly a plane. And he can fly it better than your brother.

2. He loves the Lincoln Memorial as much as I do.

1. My newspaper editor once asked me who my hero was - I answered, "My brother," - I've learned a lot about perseverance and doing the right thing from him.

Happy Birthday, Jimmy! Love you bunches!