Oh brother! Where has the time gone?

I've often measured how old I've felt as certain milestones occurred.  However, it was more often the milestones that my brothers hit.  I remember feeling "old" for the first time when my eldest brother turned 21.  I was 14.

Most the the milestones that made me do a double take and wonder how time had gone by so quickly, were events that occurred in my brother Ted's life: when he got married in '99, when he had a baby in '02, when said baby turned 10, and more recently 14.  Today, my dear brother turns 40.... boy, am I really 5 years away from hitting that age myself?

My brother Ted is a wonderful person.  I often longed for a sister as I grew up and watched how close my brothers were.  As the years went on though, I realize that my brother was a wonderful sibling to me, and I really couldn't have asked for more.

He played mediator when us 3 kids couldn't get along. He taught me how to climb trees, and build awesome forts in the snow banks our dad would plow by the sides of the driveways.  He took me sledding, and ice skating and even tried to get me to play with the bigger kids.

He took me to my first Montreal Canadiens game where I absolutely fell in love with the game.  I watched or listened to all the games after that, and kept a binder of news articles from the newspaper. I was all about the Habs after attending that game.  I believe it's the only game I attended at the old Forum, and I'm thankful to have been able to see part of this team's historic past.

Nowadays, my brother is a successful "parks and recs" manager.  He's worked in several Montreal suburbs, getting many promotions as he's moved between them.  He's got an absolutely beautiful family, a wonderful wife and 3 kids.  I finally got that sister I always wanted when he got married! He's a wonderful father.  Very patient and doting.  I'm sure the mediation skills have become quite handy as a parent!

I feel that I learned a lot from Ted, and not just how to climb trees.  I'd like to think I'm a good politically correct mediator and I feel that I've got him to thank for it.  Back when I played World of Warcraft, I moved my way up in the guild rather quickly and became a councilor and often had to voluntarily deal with disagreements between members.  I became quite good at it, and even became co-guild leader.

It's days like today that make it difficult that I live in Colorado and that the rest of my family remains in Montreal.  I miss the birthday gatherings, and the holiday dinners.  I wish I could have attended some of the plays or talent shows the kids have been in.

But all in all, love knows no bounds, and even though I'm 2000ish miles away, I hope my brother knows how much he means to me.  I hope he knows I miss him and his family.  I wish he could see more of his niece, and I'm certain he'll be delighted when he gets to meet her one day.. hopefully in the next 12 months!

Happy birthday dear brother!  40 looks good on you.  I think you'll always be young at heart <3.

Who's 40?

It's hard to fathom that my brother is now 40 years old.  I remember him turning 18 and 21.  Such monumental milestones, or at least to they were to me when I was 11 and 14.  We often had our birthday celebrations on the same day, seeing as our birthdays are 10 days apart.  It made it easier to get the family together, especially as we got older and didn't really do "birthday parties" anymore.  Now that I live 2000 miles away, it isn't much of a possibility anymore.  I do miss that family time, and was thankful to participate in commemorating his birthday, life thus far, via Skype, tonight from our hotel room in Grand Junction, along with the rest of my family, in our childhood home in Montreal.  Thanks for including us :)

I wish my brother would have gotten the chance to meet Preston.  I've seen him with my nephews and niece and he's a wonderful uncle.  I hope that Preston shines down on him, and I hope to one day have little ones that can look up to their uncle Jay.

Growing up, I remember my oldest brother, Jason, being worried that I'd break something.  Everything.  And perhaps I did break things.  A joystick or maybe a well loved toy.  It was sometimes difficult to play with Jason.  Like, I couldn't play Lego with him until I was much older, and by then, Lego was not something he was into.  However, he was always open to playing a board game.  I didn't often win.  Actually I probably didn't win until my twenties, lol.  His competitive spirit though was contagious and I'm sure it's helped me learn that you need "drive" to be successful.  It also made it fun to try and compete in other aspects.  He loved the Nordiques, well, I had to love the Canadiens.  In retrospect, I may have started liking them more because I was easily swayed by my other brother Ted.  And being as I'm the only pure Montrealer in my family, the Canadiens was the right choice! Go Habs Go!  Jay was also really good in school, which gave me that drive I was talking about, to do better.

The age difference between us, 7 years, probably made bonding a little more difficult.  As we got older, I've come to realize that my brother taught me a lot, and learned that we have a lot more in common than I originally thought.  This doesn't mean we didn't have fun as kids.  I was in awe at the Lego village that my brothers built.  There was a lot of organization in that village, year after year, as it grew bigger as sets were accumulated.  We had a blast at our fishing cottage - playing cards, board games and walking in the woods or on the shore looking for fancy rocks.

I think we got closer as adults.  I finally saw what he saw in baseball all those years, after I moved to the states and with the help of high definition television.  I'd always found the sport boring and slow, and I think seeing the game in all it's clarity made it much more interesting.  It's a fascinating sport and I really enjoy the mental game that accompanies the physical aspects of the sport.   Now, we have the pleasure of competing in a fantasy league together.  I did better than him 2 years ago; He did better than I did this past year.  It's on next year!!! :)

Life lessons as per Jay?  Take care of your things or they will break.  Don't be afraid to be independent.  Organization is key.  And a little competition never hurt anyone.  I admire Jay for playing by his own rules, and leading a successful and happy life.  Happy 40th birthday.  Here's to at least 40 more!