thanksgiving

so, you're 24.

but you know, to me you'll always be a smartass 3-year-old running around in smurf shorts, secretly recording cartoons over the best parts of of mom's betamax movies and feigning ignorance during the inquiry. and though you'd try to make me the fallguy, those dimples still betray you every time.

come to think of it, stealth has always been your modus operandi. like after you left for school and the alarms you'd secretly set on my cellphone went off 2 hours after i'd finally fallen asleep? yeah, thank the good Lord i couldn't reach through the telephone and yank out every last scraggly hair of your poor excuse for a goatee, pal. and at that ungodly hour, i think i would have ripped out the hair on your head, too.

i make the worst threats of bodily harm to those i love the most, baby brother. you squirmed into my heart to stay, back when dad would ask 'whose baby are you, mommy's or daddy's?' and you'd say 'cadiz's.' growing up, you pestered me to no end but i secretly loved the attention. you do great impressions. you know what i'm thinking when i look over at you during family parties with an eyeroll. and you're probably the only person on earth for whom i would endure the entirety of 'the benchwarmers.' (don't you dare ask me to sit through that ever again.) you gave me the best advice when i had my heart torn apart and you are the only one who can get away with calling me on my bullshit straight out. i don't think i can go more than a few days without a call-- peppered with madeup catchphrases from your crew such as 'latrix'-- telling me just how little is going on.

you've always made me an ally; even at a very young age you demanded i was present. despite the rules against children in the surgical area, you wouldn't let them start iv's without me there holding your hand and always asked for me when you woke up, often before you called for mom and dad. and even when we were fighting bitterly, the second there was outside trouble we worked as a team. you probably don't even remember those things, but they mean a lot to me. i'll always be there for you, no matter how far away you are.

on this day, H and i will be hanging out in your favorite place, wrigley field. don't be salty; it wasn't my idea for you to move all the way across the country for school. and believe me, if you were still in town it'd be the two of you at the game-- i'm only in it for a ballpark hotdog. but i think it's the perfect way to spend your day. because even though everyone's birthday should be marked with something special, each year that i can celebrate yours is truly a blessing.