Happy Birthday to my brother, Alec!!

My first memory is of sitting on the floor of our kitchen and my brother, who was a baby, was sitting in his bouncy seat. I had a little stool with a bowl of orange juice in it and a little spoon and I was feeding him spoon fulls of juice. I was 2 1/2 when he was born and I don't remember life without him, and I am glad. He's been a great brother.

He's the one who came and saved me from my stuffed rabbit when I had that horrible night mare. He's the one who baked treats for our seminary class when it was my turn. He's the one who came and sat with me in the hospital the day D was born.

I remember playing together a lot when we were little. We liked to ride bikes, although he was better at it than I was. We played in our yard a lot. We played Star Trek, and Captain. We had rabbits and we played with them. I remember one time dad told us to weed the garden. Instead of weeding we took the rabbits out of the hutch and put them in the garden, then we laid down on the warm dirt and watched them hop around eating and we talked. After enough time passed we put them back and called our work done.

We kept each other company on the long drives to San Francisco several times a year. We spent most summers and every holiday there with my grandparents for my whole childhood. It was about an 8 hour drive, which we thought was SOOO long (little did I know that my own children would be trekking across the country, literally, each year in marathon 2-3 day drives). We'd often lay in the back of the VW bus and stare out the window for miles on end.

SF was always fun. I remember spending a lot of time at Golden Gate Park with Dad and Alec. We hiked and fed ducks. Sometimes we'd go to the Japanese Tea Gardens, which I loved. We'd get a cookie, climb the bridges, and enjoy nature. We shared a room at Baba and Deda's house and at night I would tell Alec long stories about our adventures as super kids. Later Michael would sleep in there with us too, it was Baba Olya's room so she was there as well but the kids got sent to bed long before she would come up and join us. No wonder I don't mind close quarters now! When we were much older we'd climb out on the roof and play, very fun.

One summer we went to France to do genealogy. I was 12 and Alec was almost 10. He learned to speak French quite well, I learned to let him do the talking. We watched "Maya La Bee" and "Kung Fu" in French. One time at a cousins farm we got chased by killer man eating hogs. Alec and I scrambled to the top of a nearby car and shouted for help. The hogs surrounded the car and tried to eat us. Very scary. We got to met family who lived in homes without plumbing. I remember going out to the field with Alec to use the restroom. We had to go in teams because one of us would do our business and the other would wield a stick and keep the cows that shared the fields away, all the while carefully averting our eyes. We made up lots of games to pass the time that summer.

Of course things weren't always pleasant between us. I used to hate being assigned to clean the kitchen with him. He would stand around or worse lay on the counter while I did all the work. He knew I wanted to get done and was happy to bide his time. He had really stinky feet and when I had to baby-sit he wasn't always cooperative.

Mostly though we got along well. We were the "big kids" in the family and I have many happy memories of time spent together. Time at the beach, time doing chores, playing games and even getting in trouble. Almost all the trouble I got into as a kid was with him...hmmm, and more than once was the time that found us laying on his bed, pants down, waiting for a spanking.

One good thing about having a brother like Alec, who loved adventure and was "spirited" is that it also kept me out of a lot of trouble. No matter what I was doing he was probably doing something worse and that diverted the attention off of me. I never had the fire dept knock at our door because I was playing with matches in the desert. I never shot a be be gun at anything. I never chopped off my brother's finger or got a spoon thrown at me because I made mom SO mad! (I did get hit by a flying spoon once or twice because he was pretty fast but that wasn't his fault) Thanks Bro!

I could go on and on remembering all the adventures of our youth. Remembering my athletic, fun, handsome, smart (although it took a long time to show that particular strength :)), loyal, partner in crime and in growing up.

I am proud of the awesome man he's grown up to be. He's a wonderful husband and father, a good worker and a good brother and son. Happy Birthday Brother! I wish we lived closer to each other but even though the miles keep us apart you are always in my thoughts and prayers. I love you.